! 

THE 



USE OF THE BODY 



RELATION TO THE MIND. 



GEORGE MOORE, M.D., 

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, ETC., ETC 



" How in safety best we may 
Compose our present evils, with regard 
Of what we are, and where." 

Milton. 



NE W YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET. 

1849. 



aT fe 



*■ 



/ -5 <?(, 



PREFACE. 



This volume was written with the hope of 
promoting the study of a subject, than which, as 
there is none more important, so there ought not 
to be any of greater interest ; for the right use 
of the body involves the whole doctrine of hu- 
man economy, in regard both to sociality and 
to self, not only in relation to time, but also to 
eternity. The object has not been to produce a 
system? r z treatise, the formality of which would 
be repulsive, except to a few, but, in a series of 
cursory, and yet connected essays, familiarly to 
invite public attention to those things, some 
knowledge of which, although quite overlooked 
by the majority of mankind, is essential to indi- 
vidual prosperity. The topics are presented as 
they were felt by the author, in the study and 
practice of his profession ; and much of the 
work consists of moral deductions from physio- 
logical facts, which certainly demand profound- 
er investigation than this work admits. The 
subject is, indeed, of immense extent, and in 
many respects abstruse; this, however, is no 



IV PREFACE. 

reason why we should be content to remain in 
ignorance of it, but, rather, the reverse, since 
truth is always worthy of our highest regard, 
and a mind duly impressed with a sense of its 
value can by no means shrink from effort, since 
without it no permanent moral advantage can 
possibly be obtained. Readers, as well as au- 
thors, are bound to think ; and, though they feel 
their deficiency, still to take courage from the 
fact, that, if they possess any mental power, they 
have always the means of getting more, since 
it will grow if it be but rightly employed, and 
thus, at length, convert difficulties into delights, 
and exertion itself into enjoyment. We can not 
lose our reward in considering the subject be- 
fore us, because the discoveries we shall make 
will be worth far more than the trouble ; as Sir 
Thomas Brown says, " While I study to find 
out how I am a little world, I find myself some- 
thing more than the great one." Warburton 
justly remarks, that, " of all literary exercita- 
tions, none are of so immediate concern to our- 
selves as those which let us into a knowledge 
of our own nature ; for these alone improve the 
heart, and form the mind to wisdom." Igno- 
rance, indeed, is only a little less injurious than 
the abuse of knowledge ; and as the most per- 
nicious ignorance is that which conceals the 



PREFACE. 



claims of God upon our spirits, so the most 
destructive perversion of intelligence is that 
which, like an angel of darkness disguised in 
light, invests moral falsehood with the appear- 
ance of moral truth. The only proper method 
of avoiding, or, rather, of meeting and subduing, 
both these imminent evils, is humbly to learn and 
hopefully to apply the momentous truths which 
our Maker places before us, both in science and 
in revelation. The attempt to separate the lat- 
ter from the former is like attempting the remo- 
val of the sun from the planets : they belong to 
each other, and are bound together by the light 
that dwells among them. We are endowed 
with faculties both for divine and human asso- 
ciations, and hence we can acquire a knowledge 
of all that concerns our well-being with regard 
either to this world, or that toward which we 
are hastening. 

But certain timid and bewildered, yet trim 
and trite persons, imagine that to treat a scien- 
tific subject religiously is to assume too much 
of the clerical and sacred character of appointed 
ministers. But can it, indeed, be deemed that 
to think, feel, act, and speak, according to the 
dictates of divine truth and the highest knowl- 
edge, are the prerogatives of any particular 
class of men ? Surely that intelligence must be 



VI PREFACE 

barren and bare — utterly without leaf, flower, 
and fruit, lifeless as a tree of charcoal — which 
is not rooted in faith, and derives not vigor from 
the stream of life and the breath of heaven. 
Science without Religion is insane, Reason with- 
out Revelation gropes about in the dark, and 
Philosophy loses her holy ordination as priestess 
of the Most High, unless she be faithful in her 
office, as the bearer both of incense and of light. 
In short, Ignorance offers only an offensive ob- 
lation to the Almighty, while Folly profanes 
every thing within her reach. But Wisdom, 
finding all the universe sacred to the glory of 
God, calls upon man, at all times and in all 
places, to walk in sanctity and worship. 

The physical and spiritual worlds are in per- 
petual connection, and all our true interests are 
essentially religious because they are everlast- 
ing ; therefore, to separate true knowledge from 
devout feeling is to divorce what God has joined 
together, and thus produce a profane severance, 
like that of faith from love, which, as it begins 
in distrust, must end in malevolence. 

He who is not desirous of looking forward 
with serene hope to a better state of being, while 
in the midst of the trials and mysteries of the 
present, will, it is hoped, find but little in this 
work to his taste ; and yet, if it be true that 



PREFACE. Vll 

nothing is really interesting to man but what 
appertains to his own nature, there is reason to 
believe that the facts and suggestions herein of- 
fered will possess sufficient claim upon his atten- 
tion. If this work serve to direct the reader's 
mind rightly forward in his search for imperish- 
able truth, in dependence on the Might which 
made him, its best purpose will be fulfilled, and 
the defects visible in its pages will provoke no 
severe judgment from the feeling that it is aux- 
iliary to advancement in that inquiry which will 
ultimately receive a satisfactory response. 

A more precisely practical part, concerning 
the discipline of the will, was prepared to be 
published with the following; but, as it was 
found that its publication would require the di- 
vision of the work into two volumes, it was 
deemed more prudent at present to withhold it, 

G.M. 

July llth, 1846 



CONTENTS, 



PAGE 

Preface . iii 

Introduction 1 

CHAPTER 

I. The Blood 6 

II. A View of the Nervous System, in relation to 

Sensation and Will . . . . . 18 

III. Life, Irritability, and Sensibility ... 36 

IV. Mental Control 43 

V. Individuality and Identity . . . .58 

VI. Materialism and Development ... 68 

VII. The Stages of Life 92 

VIII. The Senses and their Objects . . .111 
IX. Light in Relation to Life . . . .136 

X. The Influence of Modulated Sound . . 148 

XI. Mental Action in the Use of Sight . . .163 

XII. The Compensating Power of the Mind . . 197 

XIII. Temperaments 212 

XIV. The Influence of the Blood on Mental Action 224 

XV. Food 237 

XVI. Fasting 253 



X CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII. The Influence of Intoxicating Agents on the 

Mind .264 

XVIII. The Influence of Physical Agents on Moral 

States ..... .274 

XIX. Bodily Action 291 

XX. The Influence of Exercise and Air on the 

Nervous System . . . .301 

XXI. Premature and Excessive Employment . . 322 
XXII Sleep, Disease, Death. Conclusion . . 334 






INTRODUCTION. 



The human body is a living machine, constructed for 
the use of a spiritual being. It is adapted to the ele- 
ments amid which it dwells, but, while in its own sub- 
stance partaking of their nature, it is nevertheless so 
constituted as to be actuated by powers, the mode of 
whose existence and operation can not be explained by 
reference to the known laws of matter. 

As far as history informs us, mankind have continued, 
from parent to child, through all generations, from the 
first pair, with an entail of suffering and disorder, in a 
manner which science can not explain. The perfection 
of omnipotent design, in the original formation of a hu- 
man being, appears to have been disturbed, but how, 
or why, philosophy can not discover. Undoubtedly, the 
idea of God was not defective, and He can never be dis- 
appointed ; therefore, while our doubting minds wonder 
how there can be a difference between the permission 
and the appointment of the Almighty, our reason, en- 
lightened by Himself, rests assured that it shall here- 
after be satisfied that evil itself is but the means of 
more completely demonstrating the omnipotence of 
Goodness. 

Reference to our origin is not unnecessary in such 
an inquiry as the present. No investigation of God's 
works can be properly commenced, nor happily con- 
1 



A INTRODUCTION. 

ducted, without regarding the religious bearing of the 
subject. Science is but meretricious, if not the hand- 
maid of religion. We are never free from obligation to 
our Maker ; and without a distinct acknowledgment of 
the great First Cause, we can neither reason rightly 
concerning design, nor form any expectation concerning 
our individual destiny. The value of satisfying ourselves 
that the doctrines of the Bible, respecting our Maker, 
are really His own revelations of himself for our benefit, 
arises from the certainty that we can not receive them as 
true without confiding in the benevolence of his purpose 
and the providence of his power. From this revelation 
we learn that the human oody, stupendous because of 
its adaptation to the more marvelous soul, was not a 
gradual invention, but at once produced perfect, with 
all its organs, constituting an individual harmonious in 
itself and with the universe. No after-thought was 
needed for its improvement. The hand that modeled 
the dust into the abode of a sentient being, touched it 
with perfection ; and no better type of form or finish 
will be required by the spirit of man through the dis- 
pensations of earth, be they dark or be they glorious, 
than a body like that in which the first man bowed in 
worship, or walked erect in fellowship with his God. 

Still we must revert to the fact that the inherited 
body is prone to disorder, and placed amid a multitude 
of causes which constantly tend to develop its predispo- 
sition to derangement, death, and decay. It therefore 
remains for us to discover, as best we may, the causes 
and the cure of all those manifold evils, to which we 
find both the spiritual and physical modes of our being 
are now exposed. By studying our nature, we shall the 
better understand our necessities, and be the better 
qualified to avoid our dangers or overcome our difficul- 
ties. We can not, however, in the least, apprehend 
the nature of our position, without, in some measure, 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

examining the relation in which we stand to other ex- 
istences ; nor can we fully discern on what our well- 
being depends, without an insight into our formation and 
some knowledge of the place which we occupy in the 
universe of God. 

Every organ of the body is developed according to 
a specific plan, and for a specific purpose, yet, though 
perfect in itself as an apparatus adapted to a particular 
end, it holds relation to other organs and their func- 
tions. All the body, united by one life, subserves one 
soul. Each part harmonizes with the rest, and the 
purpose of the whole is to furnish a fit medium through 
which the intelligent spirit may become acquainted, by 
actual experience and reasonable inference, with the 
properties of things, and thus supply its innate faculties 
with appropriate impressions. Ideas are but the images 
of objects which the mental principle perceives through 
the bodily senses. The body must, therefore, be fabri- 
cated in keeping with the world which it inhabits. 
Hence we find it subject to the common laws of matter, 
and only prevented from being resolved into its elements 
by the life that resides within it. 

The body is formed with peculiar reference to two 
principles — namely, motion and perception : motion ad- 
ministering to .the desire of action ; perception, to the 
desire of knowledge. The simple idea of a being placed 
by Almighty Wisdom, w T ithin a body, in order to employ 
it for intelligence and enjoyment, would appear to re- 
quire that the organization and functions of that bodj 
should be so exactly adjusted to the being using them 
and so perfectly coordinate with the conditions of ex 
ternal nature, that no disorder might by possibility occur 
and no pain be experienced, but rather that every per 
ception should be pleasure, and every action happiness 
Probably there are such beings, and such abodes among 
the many mansions of the Father's boundless dwelling- 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

place ; but such are either not human, or, if human, far 
away beyond the cloudy limits of earth. 

Were the tendencies of our spiritual nature coinci- 
dent with the holiness of the Divine Being, all external 
nature and providence would be coincident with us. 
Not a change would take place in the wide sphere of 
our existence, but in accordance with the disposition 
of our souls. We should love every intelligent being 
that approached us, and so perfectly correspond with 
our Maker as to worship him in all our knowledge, and 
find him alone the All-in-all of every sinless creature. 
But we are moral beings, derived from a corrupt stock, 
and born into this world without knowledge ; it is there- 
fore necessaiy for us to endure inconvenience, and, it 
may be, even agony, that our intellectual development 
may advance in connection and in sympathy with others, 
under the influence both of evil and of good, that thus 
we may become acquainted by experience with opposite 
and contrary affections, and individually know that 
holy thoughts dwell with joy and light, while perverse 
desire seeks to hide its misery and hideousness in the 
darkness which it loves. Hence, then, we discern why 
the body should be constituted as the medium of both 
painful and pleasurable impressions. Our souls require 
the stimulus of necessity, that the will itself may be 
free. Good and evil must be unalterably fixed before 
us, and felt by us, so to instruct us that we may choose 
between them ; not, indeed, according to immediate 
sensation, but according to laws and principles founded 
on the will of Omniscience and Almightiness. The 
good pleasure of God, the benevolence of our Maker, 
revealed in our own understandings, is the only source of 
moral decision ; therefore, the heroism of reason is sub- 
missive ness. Were it not that our souls are to learn 
dependence on spiritual power, and that our wills are 
to be subdued and subjected in joyous obedience to the 



INTRODUCTION. D 

All-wise, our bodies might have vegetated like plants, 
rooted in the soil, nourished without care, and blooming 
in the sunshine or blighted in the storm, without the 
means of changing their place or improving their con- 
dition. But our volitions are excited by the states 01 
the body. The Supreme appoints us a place in this dim 
world, that we may learn, that as the inconceivably 
diminutive atoms of which our bodies are composed are 
arranged by his hand for our convenience, so any one of 
them may, in obedience to his will, cause us to suffer 
and to die : therefore we are taught, alike by the minute 
and the magnificent, that He who brought us into ex- 
istence for his own good pleasure, can alone sustain us 
and satisfy our spirits with the joys of life. In Him, 
therefore, let us trust without wavering ; for he can not 
have conferred consciousness and reason upon us but 
for the purpose of enabling us to understand that his 
will is our happiness, and that in adoration we may 
approach him, thus to fill our being for eternity at the 
Source of power, life, love, and truth. 

All the intellectual faculties depend on attention and 
memory, and these on the state of the organization. 
Our ability to compare, and therefore to judge, concern- 
ing objects of sense, must, of course, be influenced by 
the fitness of the senses and their connections, to enable 
the soul to attend to impressions. This fitness is not 
only due to the mechanism of the organs of external 
sense, but also to the condition of the blood and the 
nervous power. We shall, therefore, now proceed to 
point out certain facts concerning these peculiarities of 
vital action, from which the reader may draw practical 
conclusions for himself. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE BLOOD. 



Our bodies are formed by the addition of materials 
received from without, which, being admitted into the 
blood, are distributed with it to every part of the system. 
In reflecting on this fact, the next thought presents itself 
in the form of a question. How are the blood, and the 
vessels through which it circulates, first produced ? We 
can only reply, that the vitalized fluid, in which dwelt 
the organizing principle, in a suitable nidus, and under 
favorable circumstances, attracted materials to itself, and 
thus evolved the physical framework of the human 
being. It was derived from the parent's blood, but the 
primal source of each individual must have been from 
God in the direct creation of a parent stock. Hence, 
" each sire begets his character and kind," and no crea- 
ture produces one of another species. The process by 
which blood is formed from other fluid under the influ- 
ence of life, may be watched in the beautiful mystery of 
incubation. 

If we would trace up the formation of the body to its 
first perceptible rudiments, we shall discover that there 
is something invisible and immaterial, that is not acting 
within the known law T s of matter ; something at work 
in the living fluid, tending to form a new body, and of 
course existing before that which it forms. 

This something centers in a point, and, as the earliest 
evidence of its power, produces a microscopic vesicle, or 
cell, which, under the formative influence, goes on to 



THE BLOOD. 7 

enlarge into a perfect egg, through every part of which 
the same principle exists at the same time, and causes 
the evolution of a specific order of organs, that ultimately 
harmonize and unite together, and administer to the 
consciousness and will of one sentient being. We see 
that the process of vital organization is not that of de- 
velopment, properly speaking, but of formation by an 
indwelling energy, which operates in every atom of the 
egg at once ; at the same time and to the same end, the 
completion of a single body consisting of many recipro- 
cal parts. At any moment it may die ; a sudden or con- 
siderable change in its electrical state destroys the integ- 
rity it holds under the unbroken influence of life, and 
the power, which, under favorable conditions, would 
have matured it, now leaves the abortive materials to 
decay. The reader who is ignorant of this subject, 
should consult some modern work on physiology. But, 
by the closest study concerning it, what do we discover ? 
Not an actual creation, it may be, but, as when the 
might of God " sat brooding on the vast abyss, and made 
it pregnant," a spirit of power is here amid the ele- 
ments of another magnificent, and yet minute cosmos, 
subduing them to its own purpose, through them, in the 
order and consistency of a beautiful series of organisms, 
to reveal itself to other spirits, and to rest in blessedness 
amid the excellent world it had made its own. 

The first visible germ of the fcuman body is an opaque 
spot 3^ of an inch in diameter, within the germinal 
vesicle or egg, which is -^ of an inch in diameter. This 
germ is the commencement of the whole body. Several 
corpuscles of the mother's blood are acted on at the 
same time, and caused to arrange themselves, or their 
elements, so as to form a new being. There is some- 
thing in this germ which attracts to itself the materials 
of which all parts of the mature animal is formed. The 
germ, then, must contain the power which causes growth, 



O THE BLOOD. 

the force which ultimately constitutes the power of the 
whole body. The development of form is but the man- 
ifestation of an inherent power, which, under favorable 
circumstances, produced by the same might, works out 
the idea of God in the plan of each creature. Thus the 
human germ can not be developed into any thing but 
a human body. It is the microscopic concentration of 
forces, which, under suitable conditions provided by the 
creative Mind, becomes the full-grown being. In its 
first beginning, it is but as an atom of dust moved by the 
breath of God ; in the end, the residence of a distinct 
spirit, capable of enjoying the attributes of the Infinite. 
These are facts, not opinions. 

But we must not confound the blind law, by which 
atoms take their place to form organisms, a law which 
is probably chemical, with the operation of a power con- 
sciously at work. Yet chemical action is never accidental 
or fortuitous, it is always acting to an end ; but we must 
distinguish the forces employed in developing a body for 
the accommodation of a soul, from the soul itself. In 
the body, many forces are at work together, under a 
common law, but the conscious being is not manifested 
in it till the end of that law is in some measure fulfilled ; 
for the purpose is, to prepare a body for the use of a 
conscious being. But the soul resides in it without in- 
terfering with the creative and formative forces, and is 
not conscious of their^xistence until it finds that they 
have been ordered to their offices, and have built up an 
abode which it may enjoy, without knowing how it was 
formed, or by what means it continues subservient to its 
will and pleasure. 

We see, then, that life is transmitted from the living 
blood of the parent to an ovum formed from it, and that, 
being thus endowed with a derived vitality, the ovum 
itself, under favorable conditions of warmth, moisture, 
and supply of oxygen, has the power of being gradually 



THE BLOOD. V 

converted into a new individualism, possessing a peculiar 
state and condition of those qualities by which it is dis- 
tinguished from all other creatures. But yet the char- 
acter of the new individual is so far modified by the per- 
sonal character of the father and mother, as to partake, 
in a large measure, of their moral and physical peculiar- 
ity, with its consequences ; not that the soul itself is 
propagated, but that a peculiar bias is imparted to physi- 
cal formation, which favors the operations of the mind in 
peculiar manners. Yet as the soul is certainly a sub- 
stantial being, probably there is no more reason to ques- 
tion the impartation of its qualities in generation, than 
those of the body. In both cases, existence is but suc- 
cessive subsistence, the continuation of a life of the same 
kind, according to fixed principles. If there be not this 
actual propagation of the substantial being, still we must 
suppose that the very images of objects seen, or even 
imagined, are fixed like a condensation of light in the 
living and thinking principle, and their impressions con- 
centrated in the germ, as in a focus, whence they may 
be again expanded in the growing progeny. 

The blood is alive. This was plainly expressed in 
the Bible more than three thousand years before sci- 
ence could be assured of the fact, but now there is not 
any truth in physiology more certain. The blood is also 
the vehicle of life to every atom of our organization. By 
properties peculiar to itself, all the various fluids of our 
bodies are produced from it, and every particle of every 
bone, muscle, membrane, nerve, and vessel, must have 
existed as an ingredient of the blood, and have been con- 
veyed to its appropriate place by this circulating spring 
of energy and nourishment. 

No vital action is maintained without blood, and should 
it cease to flow through the brain, all the senses would 
be instantly shut up, and every function speedily sus- 
pended. And then, the mechanism subservient to the 



10 THE BLOOD. 

will being no longer obedient or fit for use, by a wise 
and benevolent provision of our Maker, all conscious- 
ness of the body would cease, and the soul commence 
its flight to other regions. 

Persons who have heard of the circulation of the blood, 
but who have not duly reflected on its nature, are apt to 
suppose that it is maintained simply on hydraulic prin- 
ciples, the blood being driven out by the heart, as if from 
a force-pump, through one set of vessels, to be returned 
through another. As far as the mechanism is concern- 
ed, this is quite true, and the apparatus is perfect for 
the purpose, but something more is needed. It is found 
that a dead fluid like water will not pass through the 
dead vessels as the living blood passes through the living 
vessels. 

Life prevents the coagulation of the blood, and per- 
haps suspends the attraction of cohesion between the 
arteries and their contents, and thus the circulation pro- 
ceeds through the minute capillary or hair-like vessels 
with a force and precision which mechanism alone could 
never effect. There appears, indeed, to be a constant 
tendency in the blood to pass from the arteries into the 
veins irrespective of the action of the heart, so that this 
is to be regarded only as a beautiful auxiliary to the 
forces in operation for the purpose of supplying every 
part of the body with the vital fluid. 

When we reflect on the known facts in connection with 
the constitution of the blood, we are astonished at its ex- 
quisite adaptation to the numerous purposes it subserves 
in the economy of life. I shall, however, only refer to a 
few points prominently important toward the end I have 
in view, which is, to present evidences, that if we would 
use this world without abusing it, we must inform our- 
selves concerning the influence of physical agencies on 
the operations of the mental faculties. 

The blood, while alive, consists of a clear liquid, hold- 



THE BLOOD. 11 

ing suspended in it a multitude of minute organized 
globules or cells, assuming different shapes under dif- 
ferent circumstances. Some of these have a coloring 
matter adhering to them, which imparts the common 
color of the mass, although many of the cells are per- 
fectly Without color. The substance of the body appears 
to be formed of these cells, in the interior of which exist 
molecules, which seem to be endowed with an active and 
independent life. 

The largest of these disc-like cells in the blood of man, 
is not more than g^ of an inch in diameter. They are 
shaped like silk-worms' eggs, but they differ in size and 
figure in different animals. Notwithstanding their mi- 
nuteness, some parts of the body do not contain the red 
globules of the blood, the vessels of those parts not be- 
ing large enough to receive them, as we see in the eye, 
which requires to be well nourished, and still, for the 
most part, to be perfectly transparent. Here, then, we 
observe that provision is made to arrest the red blood at 
a certain point, while the nutrient fluid permeates every- 
where. If, by any means, the vital relation between 
the blood-vessel and its contents be altered, then suc- 
ceeds a change in the quantity and quality of blood con- 
tained in it. Thus, we see congestion and inflammation 
of the eye causing the white to become red, and that 
wiiich should be clear, obscure. Now, it is important 
to observe that whatever alters the condition of a part, 
also alters the sensation proper to that part. 

Healthy blood is the medium of power, and its regu- 
lar distribution, as before observed, is essential to the 
proper action of every organ of the body, therefore, 
every thing that interferes with the circulation, so far 
interferes with health, or, in other words, with the har- 
mony and accordance of the instrumentality by which 
the mind is, in man, associated with matter. 

Without entering into the very interesting peculiari- 



12 THE BLOOD. 

ties of design, by which the vital current is produced 
and maintained, we may, with advantage to our main 
purpose, recur to the circumstance, that the blood cir- 
culates in two sets of vessels — namely, arteries and 
veins, the former conducting it from the heart, the lat- 
ter returning it to that organ. We should, of course, 
conclude, that, on returning, it had already fulfilled its 
chief office, and accordingly we find that venous blood is 
incapable, of itself, of maintaining any function, so that 
whatever disturbs the equipoise between the venous and 
arterial currents, and thus hinders the blood from under- 
going its proper changes, so far impedes the processes 
of life, and introduces causes tending to death, that is, 
to the suspension of the reciprocal influences by which 
life, chemical action, and mind, are held in due relation 
to each other. 

Breath and life are almost synonymous terms, from 
the fact that the cessation of the one arrests the other 
also ; we can not, therefore, separately consider the phe- 
nomena of respiration, as this function is indissolubly as- 
sociated with the changes of the blood, and indeed with 
every vital process. The grand object, however, for 
which breathing is instituted, seems to be, that oxygen, 
and with it heat, light, and electricity, should be directly 
introduced to the circulating blood. 

Oxygen is the supporter of combustion and of life, 
but it is so by entering into new combinations with the 
materials subservient to life and combustion, and there- 
fore it is the cause of waste and destruction as well as 
of warmth and of vigor. It consumes the fuel by uni- 
ting with some part of it, causing the separation of 
other parts, and producing an evolution of heat and 
light, while entering into new forms. Its operation 
upon the body is not dissimilar ; it excites vital action, 
and thus exhausts while it stimulates, and therefore it 
demands a successive supply of aliment in order that the 



THE BLOOD. 13 

act of breathing may not itself destroy the body. Thus 
life is maintained by the cooperation of influences each 
in itself calculated and tending to produce death. We 
see then, at once, that He who commands contrarieties, 
alone could thus balance opposing causes to such just and 
exact effects. None but Omnipotence can preserve the 
equipoise of our existence. We hang on a breath, but 
it is His. 

The contrivances for effecting the necessary inter- 
change between the circulating fluid and the vital ah", 
are among the most wondrous and beautiful of the end- 
less evidences of divine wisdom and goodness. In some 
creatures, as insects, the air is circulated instead of the 
blood ; but in man, the blood is caused to pass into a 
multitude of exceedingly delicate vessels, which are in- 
volved, but still with exquisite order, in sponge-like 
bodies, called the lungs. These are penetrated in all 
directions by fine tubes, terminating in minute cells, 
within which the air is admitted at every breath, so that 
the blood and the air are intimately mingled, and yet 
without being actually mixed, since a membrane of ex- 
treme thinness continues between them through every 
mesh of the complicated and delicate network of living 
vessels. In short, the lungs are made up of arteries, 
veins, absorbents, nerves, and a connected network, the 
fibers of which are finer than those of a spider's web, 
and more beautifully interwoven than the most perfect 
lace, together with air-tubes and air-cells, yet these are 
all kept apart, though each is essential to the others, and 
all are constantly exercising a reciprocal influence. 

Half the heart belongs to the lungs, and is especially 
constructed in relation to the function of breathing. 
The heart, indeed, may be properly described as two 
hearts wrapped up together, and one of these is designed 
to send the blood — which has already traversed the body 
and parted with much of its vitality, but now returned, 



14 THE BLOOD. 

loaded with chyle — into the lungs, there to be vitalized 
and rendered fit to furnish stimulus and nourishment to 
the whole body. It has been stated above that most of 
the blood-discs or cells have a portion of coloring matter 
attached to their exterior. This is said, by Liebig, to 
contain an imperfect oxide of iron when it passes into 
the lungs, and which becomes a perfect oxide while 
there. In this high state of oxidation the blood is re- 
turned to the heart, or rather the left cavity of it, which 
is thus stimulated to contract, and by a marvelous ma- 
chinery of vessels, valves, and pulleys, which all who can 
should minutely study, it is distributed to supply the food 
of energy to all the framework. These few observa- 
tions are sufficient to teach us that to breathe air depri- 
ved of oxygen, or containing it in such combination as 
will not allow its proper action on the blood, or to breathe 
air containing any thing which prevents the healthy 
changes of the blood, is to breathe death. 

Every organ is endowed with a power of appropriat- 
ing to itself whatever the blood may convey to it that is 
suitable to its organization and function. As, therefore, 
the different organized substances and fluids of the body 
must be supplied by the blood, it follows that if the 
blood be not duly furnished with the proper materials, 
through the digestive process, the blood itself must be 
diseased, and thus become the source of disease to all 
parts of the body, just in proportion as the blood may 
be deficient in the elements demanded by any part, or 
by the whole ; for unless the chemical peculiarities of 
organism be perfect, both the vital and mechanical func- 
tions will also be defective, and the body, as a living ma- 
chine, be rendered inefficient. These observations may 
be aptly illustrated by reference to those experiments 
which physiologists, with more zeal for science than for 
humanity, have instituted on the lower animals, to deter- 
mine the effects of different kinds of food upon them. 



THE BLOOD. 15 

Thus, dogs fed with food containing no nitrogen — such 
as sugar, oil. gum, starch, &c. have been found speed- 
ily to starve, notwithstanding a good appetite and diges- 
tion. Their muscles waste, their secretions are morbid, 
their brains soften, their eyeballs ulcerate, in short, 
being thus unnaturally treated, they become insane, 
and quickly die from the depraved quality of their blood. 
But this subject will be better understood, if we examine 
the analysis of some particular part of the body. We 
will take that important one, the brain, as given first by 
Vauquelin, and then by Sass and Pfaff. One hundred 
parts of it consist of — 



According to Vauquelin. 



"Water .... 
Albumen . . . 
White fatty matter 
Red fatty matter 
Osmazome . . 
Phosphorus 



80 
7 

4-53 
070 
1-12 
1-5 



According to Sass and Pfaff. 

Carbon 53-48 

Hydrogen 16-89 

Nitrogen 6-70 

Oxygen. ...... 1849 

Fixed salts 3-36 

Phosphorus 1-08 



Acids, salts, and sulphur . 515 

Here we find a number of elements peculiarly com- 
bined in the composition of a single structure. Now if 
the properties of brain, and its fitness to act as an in- 
strument of the mind, depend on the presence and pro- 
portion of these ingredients, we perceive at once our 
immediate dependence on Providence for daily food, of 
the right kind, in order to the enjoyment of health and 
intellect, as far as our intercourse with this world is con- 
cerned. Of course, we can not for a moment imagine 
that the formation of thought is a chemical process ; but 
yet, as we advance in our inquiry, we shall discover 
many evidences that the minutest alterations in our phys- 
ical condition correspondingly influence our mental state 
—that is, the manifestation of the soul in connection with 
the organs of sense. 

Modern chemistry has been very successfully applied 
to the explanation of health and disease : and this science 



16 THE BLOOD. 

seems to have demonstrated that a large amount of our 
maladies, both of mind and body, is due to changes in the 
constitution of the blood. It follows from a knowledge 
of such facts, that by the determined application of 
means in keeping with the known necessities of the vital 
organization, the treatment of most diseases is now far 
more certain than it formerly was. This may be eluci- 
dated by any recent work which treats of diseases and 
their cure. Here we may remark, that as disease is 
founded in nature, both as it regards mind and body, it 
can only be met and overcome on natural principles. 
Therefore, he who called medicine a conjectural art, 
knew nothing of it, and committed a solecism, since if it 
be an art it can not be conjecture, for art is derived from 
a study of nature, and is successful only in as far as it 
conforms to her unalterable laws. Medical science, 
though imperfect, is certain and infallible, as far as it is 
true. Its limits are daily enlarging, and if men will pa- 
tiently follow the teaching of divine wisdom, everywhere 
manifest in nature, the causes of health will be better and 
better understood, and disease become comparatively 
rare. Obedience to law, natural and moral, is the only 
means i f preventing disorder, or of curing it. 

On reviewing this slight chapter, it will readily be 
perceived that the health or enjoyment of every individ- 
ual must depend on the quantity, quality, and regular 
distribution of his blood, because this fluid is the source 
both of the substance and the life of every organ of the 
body, and therefore the medium through which the soul 
is kept in proper relation to adjacent material existence. 
In exact proportion to the deviation from the standard 
in its ingredients, and in the force of the circulation, pro- 
vided the arrangement of organs be perfect, will be the 
deterioration of health and intellectual capacity; for the 
blood is designed to preserve the machinery of life in 
such a state as may best conduce to the happiness of 



THE BLOOD. 17 

the soul in its earthly associations. We are required, 
then, as far as we can, to avoid every influence which 
may disturb this pabulum of life ; and it is of the highest 
importance to remember, that mental perturbations as 
effectually deteriorate that fluid, as do the more palpable 
agents which surround us when unduly brought to bear 
upon it. 

2 



CHAPTER II. 

A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, IN RELATION 
TO SENSATION AND WILL. 

Without a knowledge of the physical constitution 
of man, metaphysical speculation would continue to sur- 
round our mental horizon with a mixture of clouds and 
glory, shifting and uncertain as a sunset sky, or like the 
flashing coruscations of the northern lights, suggesting 
ideas and resemblances according to the power of each 
observer's fancy. But neither would our deductions be 
without confusion, unless we reasoned from things of 
sense to things of faitli ; and, indeed, reason itself would 
appear without either origin or end, if we believed not 
in immaterial or spiritual existence. Therefore, while 
deprecating the dangers of metaphysics, we would ac- 
knowledge the value of such studies, since, while enlar- 
ging the scope of our conceptions, they require us to 
reflect on realities beyond the reach of our senses. 

The doctrines of the Christian moralist, however, 
though obtaining their light directly from heaven, lose 
great part of their beauty and appropriateness, and, of 
course, of their power also, unless their reasonableness 
be demonstrated. This can scarcely be accomplished 
until we are made clearly to perceive that, in the nature 
of things, and in the very framework of our being, a 
sphere is provided for the direct operation of moral mo- 
tives and influences, without which our existence would 
be vacant and unmeaning. 

Here we may observe, that the idea of instruments of 



A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, ETC. 19 

sense and volition implies their employment by a being 
capable of perceiving, choosing, and acting. And unless 
we preposterously imagine that each instrument is the 
organ of a distinct intelligence, we must suppose that an 
individual being uses all these means of action and feel- 
ing, and makes the body one by unity of consciousness 
and of purpose. Although each side of the body con 
tains an equally perfect apparatus, yet, while in health, 
no confusion results from double action, because both 
sides are controlled by one being — the soul, which re 
ceives impressions and exercises will, through either 
or through both, as occasion may demand. Without a 
two-fold machinery of muscles, and a two-fold apparatus 
of nerves, we could act only by spasmodic jerks, or by 
being set in motion by revolving, like the wheel insect. 
The gracefulness and convenience of alternate action, 
on which so much of our excellence depends, would be 
wanting, and we should be reduced to a lower condition 
than a zoophite ; but reason demands both continuous 
and comparative action, and we therefore are accom- 
modated with a body in keeping with the power which 
actuates it, and which demonstrates its own unity by 
rendering all the voluntary muscles subservient to its pur- 
poses, and by feeling paiu or pleasure according to the 
state of any part of the organization. It is requisite 
here especially to enforce the fact, that the oneness of 
the conscious being is proved by the physiologist as well 
as by the metaphysician, for, otherwise, one who merely 
obtains a glimpse of the wondrous nervous system, with- 
out due reflection, might overlook the most important 
part of the whole subject. 

The human body is constructed for mental purposes, 
that is, for the use of a being possessing mind. Single- 
ness of person can not result from the brain and nerves, 
since these are divided into many parts, with many func- 
tions. It is as absurd to say, as some do, that there are 



20 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

two thinking beings because there are two brains, as it 
would be to say there are two agents because there are 
two instruments. But if mind, or thought, can be proved 
to be secreted from the cerebrum, like bile from the 
liver, then, indeed, minds may be multiplied ad libitum, 
and eveiy new consciousness is a new mind. Facts, 
however, demonstrate beyond controversy that the dual 
brain has relation to a dual arrangement of muscles and 
other organs of sensation and of action. Thus pressure 
on either side of the brain, or any disease in its structure 
sufficient to interrupt the current of nerve-power, causes 
paralysis of the limbs on the opposite side, and of course, 
in acting under such circumstances, the person so afflict- 
ed has a tendency to turn to the palsied side, which he 
counteracts by a mental decision. If, then, we find suf- 
ficient reason for a dual brain in the organized economy, 
and in the relation of human nature to the rest of crea- 
tion, why, because we have two sides to our bodies, 
should we imagine the existence of two thinking beings 
wrapped up in one ? All the oddities of mental mani- 
festation can be accounted for without running our heads 
between the horns of such a dilemma; and as we can 
have no motive for so doing, but from a desire to reduce 
the soul to a physiological result, so we shall get no re- 
ward for the vanity of our labor but in the vexation of 
our spirit, and the merited ridicule of those who see the 
pregnant absurdity of representing a man as consisting 
of two egos, a double personality, a divided individual! 
Man's nervous system consists of many parts, having 
distinct offices, but yet administering to one grand object 
— namely, the subjection of living matter to the purposes 
of consciousness and volition. As man is intended to 
occupy the commanding position among the sentient ex- 
istences of this earth, and in some measure to sympa- 
thize with every living thing, his bodily endowments are 
in keeping with all nature, while his mental faculties 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL. 21 

enable him to appreciate the condition of other creatures 
by what he experiences in his own person. Had he 
not been thus constituted, all his knowledge must have 
been intuitive, or directly imparted by his Maker. It 
he perceived not through sense, he must have perceiv 
ed through the Divine Mind, that is, without instrumen 
tality. He stands at the summit of the scale, and meas 
ures the degrees below him, and finds nothing above but 
the full immensity of which his own mind shadows 
forth the incomprehensible majesty and might. Thus 
he at once apprehends the creature and the Creator ; 
and while sustaining himself with reliance on the power 
above all, he stoops down to examine the wondrous lines 
of wisdom and goodness inscribed on the minutest works 
of his Maker's hand. But the most astounding of all his 
studies is that which is most constantly pressed upon his 
notice. He sees and feels that all animated nature par- 
takes with himself of those wondrous gifts, perception 
and will ; and he finds that all vital formation is subser- 
vient to the same ends, the excitement and the fulfill- 
ment of desire. The variety of means adapted to these 
purposes is nearly infinite, but having discovered that 
the physiology of his own body presents him with a 
marvelous combination of all the specific differences 
which distinguish the sensorial organization of other 
creatures, he wisely directs his scrutiny in an especial 
manner to this, because it is more immediately concern- 
ed in his individual well-being. 

The nervous system is divided into three parts ; the 
cerebral, the spinal, and the ganglionic. With the brain 
are connected thought, will, feeling; with the spinal 
marrow, reflex or excited action ; and with the ganglionic 
system, all that is essential to the chemistry of animal 
life. At the base of the brain arise the nerves of smell- 
ing, hearing, seeing, and certain others, which excite ex- 
pression of the features, which naturally act in sympathy 



22 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

with sensation or states of mind. Hence emotion is 
most fully indicated in the face. Beside the nerves of 
special sense there are forty pairs of nerves connected 
with the spinal chord, which answer peculiar and im- 
portant purposes, since in their physiology is included 
all those muscular operations which conduce to the sus- 
tentation of the individual, such as breathing and swal- 
lowing, as also those which tend to perpetuate the spe- 
cies. Dr. M. Hall properly distinguishes between the 
spinal marrow and spinal chord ; and he shows that the 
latter consists of the nerves of feeling or touch, proceed- 
ing by the spinal marrow to be distributed over the whole 
surface of the body. The spinal marrow, however, has 
nothing to do directly with feeling or volition, since its 
functions are those of ingestion and expulsion, which are 
excited involuntarily. Dr. Carpenter's view of the sub- 
ject will, perhaps, assist us the better to understand it. 
He informs us that each spinal nerve consists of at least 
four sets of fibers. These he distributes as follows : — 

" 1. A sensory bundle passing upward to the brain. 

M 2. A motor set conveying the influence of volition 
and emotion downward from the brain. 

" 3. A set of excitor or centripetal fibers terminating 
in the true spinal chord of Ganglion and conveying im- 
pression to it. 

"4. A motor or centrifugal set arising from the gan- 
glionic and conveying the motor influence reflected from 
it to the muscles. 

" Of these, the first and third are united in the pos- 
terior or different roots (i .e. those which cany sensation 
to the brain), the second and fourth in the anterior or 
efferent roots (i. e. those which convey motion from the 
brain)." 

However clearly this statement may convey a notion 
of nervous anatomy to our minds, we can not but feel 
that the idea of conveying motion, sensation, and voli- 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL. 23 

tion, or their influences, to or from the brain through the 
nerves, is thoroughly at variance with our consciousness. 
[t does not appear that the facts which are proved with 
regard to the different nervous centers, require such fig- 
ures of speech to explain them. Probably they may be 
better apprehended, if we regard the different sets of 
nerves as imbued each with a resident stimulus of a pe- 
culiar kind, which is put into action by impression upon 
them, whether by the mind in volition or by exterior 
objects. As long as the integrity of any sensory nerve 
allows it to subserve the mind, by intimating the pres- 
ence of any object, we have proof that the mind is exer- 
cising its inherent faculty in relation to that nerve, and 
so also with respect to any motor nerve. If any thing 
be actually conveyed through the nerves, it is far more 
consonant with all analogy to suppose that some stimulus 
is conveyed, than to suppose that motion, sensation, and 
volition are conveyed, for as motion is not matter, so 
neither are sensations and volition. The brain and gan- 
glionic substances, or that part of them that consists of 
cellular granules, may be regarded as the apparatus 
evolving the appropriate nerve-power, and we find that 
this power is indiscriminately requisite in every part 
capable of action under volition, emotion, sensation, or 
reflex influence. We shall therefore be more consist- 
ent and intelligible, if we ascribe consciousness and dis- 
crimination, voluntary muscular contraction, and eveiy 
variety of feeling to the soul resident in the organism, 
and influenced and operating through this permeating 
nerve-power, rather than in describing will and sensation 
as something traversing the nervous fibrils from center 
to circumference, or the reverse. In connection with 
this subject, it is interesting to find so many indications 
of the universality of electrical action, or something sim- 
ilar, in the maintenance of organic function. From a 
series of experiments conducted by Messrs. Thilorier 



24 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

and Lafontaiue, they conclude that there exists in the 
nerves an imponderable fluid which may be consider- 
ed as intermediate between the electric and magnetic. 
Like the latter, the interposition of glass does not prevent 
its transmission ; and like the former, it may be felt at a 
distance through the medium of copper wire. But sci- 
ence must still further elucidate the modifications of this 
imponderable fluid, before we can venture to theorize 
concerning its influence on the nervous system and men- 
tal operation. 

We shall find that the spinal system plays an exten- 
sive part in our experience, and its investigation will 
elucidate much that, under the old divisions and doctrines 
of the nervous system, was peculiarly obscure. In this 
we seem to discover where the dominion of the w r ill be- 
gins and ends, since here we clearly trace the instru- 
mentality by which the reflex physical functions of ani- 
mal life are carried on, as distinguished from that by 
which the soul exerts its voluntary influence. That one 
set of nerves is appropriate to the use of the will, has 
been proved by a multitude of experiments on living ani- 
mals, but also quite as well, or at least less horribly, by 
disease. Any nerve connected with the anterior of the 
spinal chord being divided, the will can no longer act 
through that nerve. Any nerve attached to the poste- 
rior of the chord being divided, the mind can no longer 
perceive through that nerve. Hence the latter kind of 
nerves are called nerves of sensation, and the former, 
nerves of volition. Recent observation, however, has 
proved that volition and emotion exercise a constant in- 
fluence, more or less marked, according to circumstances, 
even over those vital operations which we usually con- 
sider quite involuntary, such as breathing. This fact had 
been acted on by physicians long before the physiologi- 
cal rationale was discovered. They have been accus- 
tomed to force those persons who have swallowed large 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL, 25 

doses of opium, for instance, to walk about, and they 
have used violent means to excite the action of the will, 
because they well knew that unless the mind was roused 
to exertion, breathing would soon cease. But irrespect- 
ive of volition, the muscles, subservient to the act of 
breathing, may be excited by impressions on the sen- 
tient nerves ; thus, cold water, and other sudden or 
powerful excitants, occasionally applied, either in nar- 
cotic poisoning, or in mere faintness, rouse the latent 
nervous power, and keep the blood in motion until the 
cause of vital depression be removed. 

Motion in an animal gives us the idea of the will being 
engaged to effect it, according to some demand made 
upon its feelings. Every act seems to imply an inten- 
tion, and we have seen that will acts on the muscles 
through the medium of appropriate nerves. But the 
same set of muscles may be caused to contract, even in 
the dead body, therefore it is plain that sensation and 
volition are not essential to their action. There is some- 
thing in the muscle and nerve, ready to act when excited 
by a suitable stimulus, and this stimulus is directed into 
the muscle by the mind, or else the mind acts directly 
on the stimulus proper to each part. 

Consciousness and will are both connected with the 
brain, and their influence on the spinal system of nerves 
in the human body is effected by the substance of the 
brain-matter being prolonged into the spinal chord, and 
mixed with its center. Of course it follows from this 
fact that any disturbance in the connecting nervous or- 
ganization, proportionally interferes with perception and 
volition. This may be strongly illustrated by experi- 
ments on the torpedo. If the brain of this creature be 
entirely removed, it does not attempt to protect itself, 
but if the smallest portion of brain be attached to the 
spinal chord it perceives the presence of any object near it, 
and becomes not only conscious of any injury, but is able 



26 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

to discharge its electrical battery the instant it is touched. 
Yet however sound the brain may be, if the continuity 
between it and the nerves supplying its galvanic appa- 
ratus be broken, it can no longer excite it or give a shock. 
A very small portion of brain is sufficient for the pur- 
pose of consciousness and determination, and even the 
absence of the entire brain does not hinder the manifes- 
tation of will and appetite. It is, however, necessary 
that the peculiar development of nervous matter form- 
ing the summit of the spinal chord, called from its shape 
the medulla oblongata, should be preserved. The con- 
nection of this substance with several of the nerves is of 
course essential, because the consciousness of objects and 
the action by which consciousness is evinced, require that 
the mental or perceiving power should be put in relation 
to the instruments of sensation and will. Some physi- 
ologists, however, have taken away the brains of animals, 
slice after slice, destroying sense after sense, until they 
have removed the whole apparatus by which the muscles 
are actuated and the senses connected in subservience 
to the mind, and when they have completed this man- 
gling of God's creatures, finding that these no longer 
endeavor to resent the outrage or complain of the phil- 
osophic cruelty, the anatomists have complacently per- 
suaded themselves that bit by bit they have discovered 
the being that felt, and pared it away with the scalpel till 
none remained ; as if mind could continue to manifest 
itself without means. We see from M. Flouren's exper- 
iments, that as long as a single sense remained intact 
with its nerve in connection with a center of action, so 
long perception and will were evinced, and surely, the 
existence of consciousness in any degree as plainly proves 
the presence of a conscious being as if all the instruments 
of speech and reason were in use, and the suffering 
subject of experiment or philosophic amusement could 
inform the groping dissector of all its feelings. 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL. 27 

It appears that the perceiving and willing principle, 
when impressed, operates upon a certain form of nerve- 
matter, which is of a gray color, and arranged in vesicles 
>r little hollow grains in contact with the nerves, which 
consist of a white substance, forming a vast multitude of 
exquisitely fine tubes. We shall perceive how slight a 
Jerangement in the nervous apparatus is sufficient to 
listurb its functions, when we consider that a nerve-tube 
nas a place in almost every visible fiber of the body, and 
that it is not larger than a silk-worm's thread, and may 
be distinctly traced in an unbroken line from the foot, 
for instance, up through the spinal chord to the base 
of the brain. Each nerve-tube is distinct and isolated, 
never transferring its stimulus to another of any kind, 
and experiments indicate that a nerve being impressed 
on any part of its course, it is equally affected through- 
out. Thus a man who has lost his leg will imagine he 
feels a sensation in his toe whenever the nerve which was 
once connected with it is irritated. The nervous power 
which traverses the nerve-tube is alike arrested by press- 
ure on any part of it. Some theorists, who proceed in 
their visions beyond the region of bodily eyesight, have 
propounded an explanation of nervous operation, which, 
as it originated in an endeavor to explain ghost-seeing 
in keeping with physiology, so, probably, it better com- 
ports with the imaginary than the real. They assert 
that a nerve-spirit pervades the body and acts as the 
direct medium of connection between the soul and the 
nerves. Kerner, and other German physicians, account 
for some of the marvels of mesmerism by this interme- 
dium, which, say they, is the power by which ordinary 
volition, sensation, and perception are effected. Ecstatic 
patients are reported to have seen this nerve-spirit pro- 
jected from an amputated limb, and occupying its place 
in all the plumpness of healthy proportion, so that as 
regards this luminous fluid there was no loss, — the 



28 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

spirit-limb, so to saj% was still present. Since the ra 
tional experiments of Baron Von Heichenbach are before 
the public, we dare not ridicule the ideas thus suggested. 
But still this inconceivable organic power, taking the 
shape of the body, not being demonstrable to any sight but 
that of a very sensitive person — a ghost-seer, we may 
be excused from further reference to the matter, as it 
belongs to a department to which we do not yet aspire. 
The nerves are formed for the purpose of maintaining 
currents of power, and they are, in fact, circles of tubes 
that have no termination, but bend to return upon them- 
selves, either in loops, or by forming a beautiful and 
continuous network. Each of these inconceivably 
delicate tubes is in some part of it invested by the 
gray vesicular matter before mentioned, and the nerv- 
ous energy of any creature is generally in exact ratio 
with the quantity of this gray granulated substance in 
contact with its nerves, because, as it appears, this mat- 
ter separates something from the blood, which is com 
municated to the nerves, or in some inscrutable manner 
energizes them. Man has more of this gray substance 
than any other creature in proportion to the size of his 
nerves, and it seems that he is indebted to this larger 
development, and abundance of vascular brain, for his 
power of maintaining attention in such a manner as is 
consistent with his moral and mental superiority, for by 
the will this matter is excited to convey stimulus to the 
nerves of sense, and to the voluntary muscles, according 
to the demand which circumstances may require. All 
the nerves together form four systems, sensation, volun- 
tary motion, reflex action, and that which unites the 
whole body in the processes of nutrition, growth, de- 
composition, and recomposition, and whatever is neces- 
sary to animal life, irrespective of volition and sensation. 
Sir Charles Bell first pointed out the respiratory 
center of nervous power, but it is now disputed whethei 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL. 29 

this should not be included in the craniospinal, excito- 
motor, or reflex system. Its importance in the economy 
can not be overlooked, for on ceasing to breathe, we die. 
That the sympathetic, or ganglionic system bears some 
direct relation to each of the others, is indicated by the 
fact that it communicates with all the nerves. It is also 
probable that a minute network of sympathetic nerves 
accompanies every artery of the body ; and it is known 
that all the viscera receive energy from the sympathetic 
alone ; but yet these are all influenced, to a great degree, 
by the emotions of the mind. 

For convenience' sake, the nerves are thus divided, 
and the study of comparative neurology fully warrants 
the division, because, in function, they are putted to be 
perfectly distinct. Yet the framework of the human 
body being constituted more especially in relation to the 
requirements of the soul, we find that every department 
of our nervous structure is associated more or less with 
mental phenomena, and so connected that no part can 
be much disturbed without interrupting the harmony of 
the whole, and interfering with our happiness. On 
carefully reviewing the distribution of the nervous sys- 
tem, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that this 
marvelous apparatus is constructed as a medium of 
action to some invisible being ; for it is certain we feel 
and act through it. That which feels and acts must be 
distinct from the body, unless the body itself feels and 
acts ; but in as far as it possesses a distinct organization 
of nerves for distinct purposes, as feeling and motion, 
and sympathy, and all the body does not act together in 
feeling and willing, it is manifest that something beside 
the body must be engaged in feeling and willing, for that 
which wiDs is the same as that which feels ; but the 
organization subservient to these ends is different, there- 
fore the organization neither feels nor wills. And if 
that which feels and acts with various organs be the 



30 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

same, then that must be an individual being, or otherwise 
it could not possess unity under different states, and be 
the same both in feeling and in acting. Moreover, as 
the bodily senses and organs constitute one body, and 
that one body in all its multitudinous parts is enjoyed 
by an indivisible being distinct from it, and which we 
call the soul, then the body must either have been 
formed for it, or it for the body. If it was formed for 
the body, then on the death of the body it is no longer 
needed, and both perish together ; but if the body was 
formed for it, then, if a body be required to fulfill the 
purposes of its existence hereafter, another will be 
provided for it. But some say that the thinking, 
willing, acting being is a production of the body, and 
therefore with it ceases. Even this, however, does not 
logically follow. Still, casting this aside, they must con- 
clude that the organized congeries of infinite fibers and 
cells, called the body, has produced an individual being 
out of its complicated self, a being without organs or 
elements, as the secretion of many organs and many 
elements. Trow they this as their truth 1 Then we 
must leave them to whatever consolation their faith may 
afford them. But if they only assert what they do not 
quite heartily believe, then let them get what good they 
can from their inverted assumption. Disputation, how- 
ever, is an irksome and thankless employment, and 
scarcely answers the purpose of conviction : because the 
mind naturally sets up its own old defenses whenever 
its prejudices are attacked ; but the quiet review of facts 
is according to the divine method of instructing us, and 
therefore we will advance in our endeavor better to un- 
stand the intricacies of our being by further insights and 
observations concerning our compound nature. It is 
enough for us to conclude that consciousness is associa- 
ted with the source from whence all the various cur- 
rents of power permeating the body derive their supply, 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL. 31 

since the mental emotions influence the regulation of 
life and nervation, and are themselves impressed and 
determined by conditions of the blood and nervous sys- 
tem. The action and reaction between mind and body 
are incessant, since there is not a moment, either in 
our waking or sleeping experience, when the nerves are 
not agitated by ideas, or ideas modified by the state of 
the nerves. 

If we would study the organization of the brain in the 
manner of phrenologists, we find an impediment to our 
reception of their demarkation of faculty, from the cir- 
cumstance that, so far from there being any distinct 
organs such as their system implies, all the convolutions 
of the brain are manifestly adjusted with especial regard 
to motion and sensation. The motiferous fibers are 
ramified along the whole of the convex and upper part 
of the surface of the brain ; and the sensiferous fibers 
expand in contact with the gray matter over the whole 
of the convolutions of the brain. The extremities of 
the motiferous column are, in fact, covered by the ex- 
panded layers of the sensiferous column intermixed 
with the gray substance on the convolutions. We see, 
then, that the entire mass of brain is constructed with 
evident regard to action and sensation, or will and per- 
ception. 

No especial organs appear to be required to give us a 
sense of pleasure or pain, but such as are essential to 
the impression of objects, or the sensation peculiar to 
any part. Thus fear is excited by any object with which 
the mind has been accustomed to associate the idea of 
danger ; and the other passions and affections are excited 
in like manner, according to mental habit or association ; 
for, in fact, all our passions, properly speaking, are ac- 
quired, our bodily appetites being of course instinctive. 
We never desire what is unpleasant, and never shun 
what we enjoy. When morally, that is, rationally, per- 



32 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

suaded of the impropriety of any act because incompat- 
ible with our welfare, we lose our delight in it so long as 
we so think, however agreeable it might otherwise have 
been. I dwell on this subject merely for the purpose of 
enforcing the importance of proper education ; understand- 
ing that term to signify the use of the senses on suitable 
objects, under moral restrictions, and for the purpose of 
acquiring the habit of acting with the conviction of true 
knowledge and in wise or religious association with well 
ordered agencies, since we see that moral evil is a reality, 
a disharmonizing power, which may actually be commu- 
nicated from mind to mind, like a contagion that will sub- 
ject the whole being to its laws when once brought, in 
any degree, to yield to its influence. We find that pro- 
vision is made in the brain and spinal marrow for sensa- 
tion and motion. We have a medium of impression, with 
means for supplying nervous energy to the muscles ; but 
both orders of nerves belong to a being whose preroga- 
tive it is to think on the ideas excited by sensation, and 
in consequence also to will, and to act through the body. 
It is evident, from this constitution of mind and nerve, 
that a healthy state of either can only be maintained by 
being afforded appropriate excercise. If one set of nerves, 
say those most employed in perception, be engaged too 
long, as in monotonous labor, it must be to the detriment 
of the reflective powers ; and though a man thus occu- 
pied may become acute, as a savage in his limited depart- 
ment, in the use of his senses, he is likely to possess only 
the disposition of a slave, unless some strong moral truth 
which toil can not obliterate has grown up in his heart 
from infancy. But those who have not enjoyed the ad- 
vantage of early training into the facts of religious faith, 
must, under such circumstances, necessarily become 
mentally indolent and incapable of acting for their own 
futurity, except under brutal impulses, the stimulus of 
appetite or the persuasions of the whip. And this is the 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL. 33 

state to which some men, without intendingit, reduce their 
brethren by forcing them to exhaust their entire energies 
in producing wealth for their employers ; for thus they 
must be deprived of mental and moral education, that is, of 
all that constitutes the durable riches of a human soul. 

Phrenologists write as if they deemed an organ capa- 
ble of desiring its own gratification. Desire is never felt 
without an excitation of organism, but then the individ- 
ual being, that is conscious of impression, not the in- 
strument, is the subject of desire and gratification. Will 
is not the action of an organ, but of the soul, and although 
the habitual indulgence of a passion promotes the de- 
velopment of that part of the nervous system called into 
action, it does not follow that a full development shall 
lead to its full exercise — far otherwise — mind has a re- 
straining as well as an exciting power. Even accord- 
ing to phrenologists, the large destructiveness of Spurz- 
heim, for instance, was controlled by moral habits or 
associations, and yet many a man with larger moral 
organs (to speak phrenologically) and less destructive- 
ness, has been a murderer. What does this prove ? 
Certainly not that a man's moral character is decided 
by the balance of his brains, but by the state of his soul 
as regards knowledge and affection. Ignorance and evil 
habits are not measured by the calipers : 

" Dark thoughts and deeds to darken'd minds belong ; 
He can't live right whose faith is wrong." 
There is but one willing power, however numerous 
may be the objects which excite it, and all that is neces- 
sary to call the will into action with regard to any 
object, is merely that it be furnished with organs of 
sense through which the soul may attend to it; the same 
organization being employed in attending to every va- 
riety of object, according as it may be visible, audible, 
tangible, so that an especial organization for every kind 
of sentiment and affection can scarcely be demanded, 
3 



34 A VIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 

since it is not organization which confers sentiment, 
but the soul itself that experiences it in the use of the 
senses, according to association and its innate properties. 
Thus with the very same order of organs, one man 
loves what another hates, not because the one is better 
formed for hating than the other, but because their 
mental habits are opposed in consequence of different 
associations. For the same reason, a man may avoid 
to-day that he eagerly sought yesterday, not because 
his organs are altered, but because some fact or fancy 
has modified his impressions — he has the same brain, 
but different knowledge. 

The rational soul is never practicably divisible into 
three parts, animal, moral, and intellectual, for all our 
conscious, voluntary acts involve all these divisions. 
Man submits to impulse or resists it, according to the 
character of his knowledge and moral conviction. Unless 
mad, drunk, or idiotic, he always acts as a moral agent, 
being influenced by circumstances, just as they may com- 
port with his necessities, and with his acquired ideas of 
right and wrong. 

I am earnestly desirous that my observations on 
phrenology may not be misunderstood. No doubt its 
sober study is calculated greatly to advance the inter- 
ests of man. All I wish to show in opposition to some 
of its professors, is, that though we think ivitli brain in 
this world, the brain itself neither thinks, feels, nor 
wills. It is quite futile to refer to prearranged and co- 
ordinate relations between external objects and the 
organism of the brain, without supposing the existence 
of a power which is not derived from the brain, but 
which acts through it, not always and merely in pro- 
portion to the size of the organ and the state of its 
blood, but also according to convictions of truth, and by 
the operation of agencies beyond the reach of our sens- 
es, and whose influence, therefore, we can not esti- 



IN RELATION TO SENSATION AND WILL. 35 

mate. Let the anatomist, the phrenologist, and the 
divine proceed in peace together. This, all Christians 
will desire to do ; but those who are not such will 
find contention rather likely to engender additional 
strife than to enlarge true knowledge. Why should we 
quarrel? We shall see more alike by-and-by; and that 
the more speedily the more patient we are with each 
other. The pursuit of truth can not properly divide her 
followers, but the more closely we adhere to her, the 
more nearly we shall approach each other ; for all the 
departments of truth belong to the same system, and, 
had we faith in the Lord of life, nature, and mind, as 
all Christians profess to have, we should expect to find 
that the different radii of knowledge center together in 
one light. If any word of mine intercepts the smallest 
ray of that light from any understanding, may that word 
be blotted out forever, 



CHAPTER III. 

LIFE, IRRITABILITY, AND SENSIBILITY. 

True philosophy, like a beautiful island arising by slow 
degrees from the profundity of a vast ocean, continues 
to enlarge to our sight, and its ultimate extent is unim- 
aginable, since its bounds can only be infinite and eter- 
nal — it is founded in the mind of the Almighty. When 
we attempt to penetrate the mystery of creation, by in- 
quiring into the causes in operation by which the won- 
drous existences of this diversified world are evolved, 
we seem to look into darkness, and our endeavors to 
see excite in our imaginations a false light, which de- 
ceives and confounds us. There are deep recesses in 
the temple of nature, which the feeble flame kindled by 
man upon her altars serves rather to indicate than to 
illumine. The shekinah of its builder and Lord must 
return ere that temple shall be filled with appropriate 
light, and be revealed in all its magnificent beauty. At 
present, we behold but a little of the superficies here 
and there ; and all we can discern only suggests the 
vastness of the design, the perfection of the finish, the 
wisdom of the details ; and although we discover enough 
to fill our souls with awe and adoration at the manifest 
evidences of divine skill and benevolence, the impres- 
sions of the Almighty's hand are like hieroglyphics, the 
meaning of which we may not yet interpret. These 
thoughts are rather poetical than scientific ; but poetry 
and science are more nearly connected than we generally 
suppose, since the confines of the latter are surrounded 



LIFE, IRRITABILITY, AND SENSIBILITY. 37 

with mystery, some conception of which the mind nat- 
urally endeavors to express, and therefore imagination. 
as becomes her office, beguiles us with fancies and fic- 
tions when reason fails to enjoy facts. Life, irritability, 
sensibility — these words may well suggest ideas of Lord 
Byron rather than of John Hunter. They are the 
names of qualities which we do not understand, and, like 
the term gravitation, as employed by Newton, express 
the complex notion connected with certain phenomena 
which we refer to occult causes, since we know not how 
otherwise to explain or even to express them. 

The nomenclature of science is but a mode of mask- 
ing ignorance ; and we need not wonder at this, since 
all human knowledge terminates in abstractions, as if to 
intimate that this life is to furnish us with objects which 
we must wait for the next life more fully to discover. 
Nevertheless, facts are before us, and it is for us to 
treasure them, as they must form the commodity of our 
minds, the wealth of our reason ; and the facts which 
force us to adopt the words life, irritability, and sensi- 
bility, to express what is common to them, are of great 
interest, beauty, and importance, and therefore our at- 
tention to a few of them will be abundantly rewarded. 

The living body is endowed with power to reduce the 
elements congenial to its nature into its own substance. 
But the very existence of this animated structure re- 
quired that some agency should have been at work an- 
terior to those combinations and arrangements which we 
call organization. As far as we can discover, this pre- 
existing agency is life. This can not be a chemical prop- 
erty, nor the result of chemical affinities, since elemen- 
tary action is opposed to it, but it is a power which 
modifies the laws of matter to form specific organisms. 
All living beings are the offspring of other living be- 
ings ; and all we know of life is, that it subjects dead 
matter to new influences, and causes it to assume 



38 LIFE, IRRITABILITY, AND SENSIBILITY. 

new forms, to promote growth and to resist* decay. We 
see that, as Coleridge says, " every rank of creatures, 
as it ascends in the scale of creation, leaves death be- 
hind and below it." The greatest tenacity of organic 
life does not, however, belong to the highest order of 
creatures, for we find that reptiles possess it in the 
greatest degree. It is said, that even some animalculae 
enjoy a life which is destroyed with vastly more difficulty 
than that of more complicated beings. Thus the vibrio 
tritici, which causes the ear-cockle in wheat, may, it is 
said, be kept for many months in a dry and apparently 
dead state, and yet, on being moistened, it will revive. 

We shall understand the term life the better if we 
reflect a little on the difference between a living and a 
dead body. First, we observe that living bodies need 
aliment, and convert it into their own substance, and 
next we see that they are subject to certain laws which 
regulate their action and rest. The reader should refer 
to works on physiology for explanation of the processes 
of assimilation and growth ; but I will here illustrate 
what is meant by action and rest. The leaves and 
branches of a sensitive plant shrink from the touch, but 
on being too frequently approached this delicacy departs. 
Like an ill placed mind, it seems to lose its modesty 
amid rude associates. Poetical comparisons, however, 
contain only metaphoric truth. The habit of exposure 
blunts the fine feelings of the soul as well as the sensi- 
bility of the body, but the sensitive plant requires only 
rest to restore the contractile power which resides in 
the joints of its leaves and leaf-stems, in order to be as 
sensitive as ever. The same thing happens with regard 
to different parts of our bodies ; for example, the heart, 
which acts under the stimulus of the blood, and then 
pauses, and then again contracts ; and this is repeated 
more than a hundred thousand times a-day. If the 
heart be removed from the body, it will contract and 



LIFE, lRUITABIi xTY, AND SENSIBILITY. 39 

leap up when stimulated. If excited too rapidly, or too 
strongly, it soon loses this power; but if allowed due 
intervals of rest, it continues susceptible a considerable 
time. This power of acting under the influence of ap- 
propriate stimuli is called irritability. There is an irri- 
tability peculiar to each organ of our bodies, and the 
balance of the whole system, the harmony between its 
parts, depends on the proper action of each, because 
although each has a sort of individuality of office and 
function, yet all sympathize together under the influ- 
ence of one prevailing power. 

Of this irritability we are not conscious — it exists 
irrespectively of feeling, because sensation arises from 
the presence of something superadded to organism, and 
implies a mind. Thus we obtain, even in the roughest 
sketch of our physical being, the knowledge of many 
important facts. First, that organization is induced in 
matter by a living principle ; next, that irritability is 
added to organization, and then that sensibility is added 
to irritability. 

As the animated machineiy is constructed to be the 
medium of conveying impressions to the mind, and also 
to serve as the instrument of its action ; and as every 
part of the body possesses, not only an organization, but 
also a mode of sensation peculiar to itself, it is evident 
that whatever tends to alter the condition of any organ 
will affect our well-being accordingly. The perceiving 
and controlling agent, the soul, will be interfered with 
just in proportion as the part disordered may be more 
or less immediately subservient to sensation and will. 
Here we should remember that the organization which 
during health exercises its functions without our con- 
sciousness, during disease frequently becomes the seat 
of much suffering, for as there is a mode of feeling pe- 
culiar to each structure, so whatever disturbs the fine 
arrangement of nerves in it will cause the feeling of that 



40 LIFE, IRRITABILITY, AND SENSIBILIT Y. 

part to be changed. Thus, a tendon or ligament may 
be cut or burned without exciting sensation, but the pur- 
pose of such parts being to bind the frame firmly together, 
they are endowed with a property of feeling which gives 
us warning of danger whenever they are subjected to a 
force which may tear them. The cruelty of tyrants 
has been ingenious in the discovery of torments, and 
hence it used to be their fashion to break on the wheel, 
or by thumb-screws, iron boots, or racks of some kind, 
to agonize those who, in the manfulness of their trust in 
a higher power, defied the despotism of malevolence. 
But, blessed be God, he has made the soul capable of 
victory over all adversity. Torment itself induces a 
reflex action which substitutes enjoyment. That which 
suffers is superior to the nerve through which it suffers, 
and it can alter impression by the force of desire, and 
under motives which derive their power from a might 
above evil. 

When the mind is excited, the effects are felt in the 
body according to the local tendency or state of any part 
at the time of the emotion. Thus, some feel the evil 
consequences of undue excitement in the liver, by bil- 
ious disorder, others in the heart, by palpitations, others 
in the head, others in the spinal chord, etc. 

In short, many of the anomalies of sensation in mor- 
bid persons arise from mental causes, disturbing the 
nervation by which we become conscious of our bodies. 

As in an intricate machine every part is formed on a 
plan embracing the whole, that all may work together 
for one end, so all the organs and functions of the body 
answer one grand purpose, namely, to bring matter into 
subservience to mind. And as a derangement in any 
portion of a machine impairs the working of the whole, 
so any disorder in any department of the body disturbs 
the operation of the power that is acting through it — 
the state of the mind is affected, and that not merely as 



LIFE, IRRITABILITY, AND SENSIBILITY. 41 

regards sensation in any particular part thus disordered, 
but because that part had something to perform of im- 
portance to the healthy action of other parts also. Thus 
mutual sympathy results from mutual dependence. 

In the foregoing chapter it was shown that the brain, 
or organ through which we perceive objects and exert 
the will, is connected with all the nerves of sense and 
action, in short, with every organ of the frame. Hence 
we see, at once, that whatever disturbs the function of 
any part must more or less disturb the source of energy 
and of thought. Health of body, then, is essential to 
the fullest manifestation of mental power. The term 
health, indeed, implies a comfortable state of conscious- 
ness and a felt capacity of employing the body in the 
fulfillment of natural desires. We all experience the 
power of mental emotion over the physical economy, 
and, of course, whatever disorders sensibility must so 
far involve the brain and proportionally unfit it to act as 
an instrument of the soul. Every interference with 
the will is a subject of complaint, as if the thinking being 
acted from an intuitive conviction that the body was only 
designed for enjoyment. And it is true that a perfectly 
healthy person can not be otherwise than happy. But, 
alas ! this health belongs not to this blighted world — 
Reason is gone astray, and we all suffer the penalty ot 
that act, which, infringing the divine order, broke the 
moral harmony of the universe. But mercy still dwells 
on earth. Love has extracted the venom from the wound 
inflicted by the serpent, and the voice of Omnipotence is 
inwardly heard, suggesting remedies, and inspiring the 
soul with power and inducement to withdraw itself from 
misery by hopefully working on in the acquirement of 
knowledge, by intimacy with the works and the words 
of the Author of our being. Here begins the triumph 
over evil. Man's nature retains a quality by which it 
may be improved and elevated above mere animal appe- 



42 LIFE, IRRITABILITY, AND SENSIBILITY. 

tites. His intelligent spirit is associated with the body 
in a manner which inferior creatures never approach ; 
for through an appropriate development of one part of 
the nervous system he is enabled, in a great measure, 
when rightly induced, to control and counteract the im- 
pulses which operate upon him through other parts, and 
by an effort of determination, under the persuasion of 
moral or religious motive, he can and does restrain the 
tendencies resulting from his bodily constitution, and so 
direct them as to render them subservient to the inter- 
ests of sociality, to the advancement of his reason, and 
the increase of his joys. Even pain but augments the 
triumphs of his soul, for the Almighty, in making man, 
anticipated his struggles, and while he conferred on him 
the capacity of greater suffering, he also fortified him 
with a power of fixing his attention on higher objects, 
and thus, by ennobling his aims, enlarging his hopes, and 
filling him with the vastness of his destiny, God empow- 
ered man to rise above earth and time, so that even 
while in the turmoil of his troubles he might apprehend 
eternity and heaven. Jehovah having revealed himself 
as the friend of man, omnipotent in fulfilling and infinite 
in promise, we now behold, so to speak, an object wor- 
thy of our trust. We may safely commit all our being 
to Him, for we are His ; He has made us for Himself, 
He loves us, and therefore we may indeed love Him 
with all our might, for He has given us all our faculties 
of confidence and affection that our faith and hope may 
rest entirely on Him. Thus, of course, we turn at once 
to the summit of existence when we would illustrate 
the distinctive characteristic of human intelligence as 
proving its superiority by the power of maintaining at- 
tention, because we feel that nothing will suffice — none 
out the Highest himself possesses attraction and might 
enough to raise man's spirit from degradation, or to sat- 
isfy its capacity for knowledge and happiness. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MENTAL CONTROL. 

We are so constituted that every desire excites to 
action, and every action of the healthy body is itself a 
pleasure. The eagerness of the mind in a vigorous 
frame converts danger itself into enjoyment, and hence 
we see the fox-hunter, or, better still, the Nimrod of 
the Indian jungle, boisterous in his mirth, because both 
mind and body are intently engaged. If, however, the 
peril be imminent, the pleasure is gone, and under the 
lion's paw the bravado is weaker than a child. This 
great change arises, not only because the mind is im- 
pressed in a new manner, but because the mind reacts 
upon another system of nerves. The muscular exer- 
tion, the general excitement, the bounding heart, the 
full supply of oxygenized blood, kept the brain in most 
energetic action during the pursuit ; but now the pros- 
trate hunter feels that fear can effect a change that sud- 
denly counteracts all these : his florid cheek is blanch- 
ed, the high-toned muscles unstrung, the strong heart 
merely flutters and then stops — he is faint with fright. 
The extremes of bodily and mental excitement are here 
brought together ; we see their effects, but we do not 
discern by what means the difference is effected. A 
little reflection on the nature of the nervous system, and 
its connection with the sanguineous circulation and mus- 
cular power, will enable us, in some measure, to under- 
stand the change. 

The invalid, precluded by his feebleness from the free 



44 MENTAL CONTROL. 

use of his body, becomes tremulously conscious of him- 
self so long as his attention is not attracted to other ob- 
jects. His sensibility, both moral and physical, seems 
intensified, all his senses become more acute, he feels 
"tremblingly alive" in every fiber. The rough black- 
smith when subdued by disease, is as delicate as a pia- 
nist ; the slightest inharmonious sound annoys him ; the 
quiet light disturbs his brain ; the happy sprightliness of 
his own loved child brings tears into his eyes ; the breath 
of zephyr shakes him ; and the perfumed and balmy 
breezes of May, as he sits under the hawthorn in the 
sunshine, seem to crush him, or seize him with a creep- 
ing horror, and the blithe chirp of the grasshopper fills 
him with a panic. He is out of keeping both with 
heaven and earth, yet he is neither a coward nor a ty- 
rant. The fact is simply this : his body is weakened, 
and his mind is not fortified by dwelling on proper ob- 
jects. He is mentally irritable, partly because his de- 
bility prevents his maintaining attention through his 
senses as he would wish, and partly from the low habit 
of his thinking. His heart is feeble, and yet his brain 
is intensely excited, for his soul will not suffer it to rest. 
Here, then, we have presented to us, in a palpable man- 
ner, the nature of the contrast between morbid and 
healthy sensibility : the former is consciousness with 
deficiency of muscular power and blood, the latter is the 
feeling of bodily faculty in keeping with rational desire, 
and fit for exercise. In other words, morbid sensibility 
is brain in action under the soul without a corresponding 
energy, and activity of the body under the control of the 
will ; but healthy sensibility is the feeling of health, the 
consciousness of power in the body to accomplish desire, 
to use the senses, and to perceive without pain. Sus- 
ceptibility of nerve and feebleness of muscle generally 
go together, and are commonly associated with irritability 
of temper, from the constant interference with habitual 



MENTAL CONTROL. 45 

exertion and tendency of will. The weak man is always 
in danger of troubling others, anfi of tormenting himself. 
" To be weak is to be miserable," is, however, only a 
Satanic sentiment, for religious accquiescence in the 
wisdom of divine disposal secures the help of Omnipo- 
tence. He who knows no health but that of the body, 
however cheerful and joyous he may be while that lasts, 
is a wretch the instant it fails him. But he whose 
desires are consistent with moral excellence, and who 
breathes the higher atmosphere to which Christianity 
alone can elevate us, is always conscious of a health that 
can not be totally destroyed by bodily disorder. 

Now, lest facts themselves should lead us to false con- 
clusions, let us inquire what is meant by sensibility. Do 
the organs perceive their own state ? Are they con- 
scious ? No ; sensibility depends on attention ; it is the 
condition of that which perceives in relation to the nerv- 
ous state of the part attended to. Matter itself, we 
know, is not susceptible of sensation. It is the soul that 
feels through every sense, whether special or general, 
and, when deprived of perception or employment in one 
direction, it becomes the more intent upon the use of 
those channels of intelligence that are open to it ; thus 
even the soul of an idiot, whose nervous system is so 
disordered or defective that he can scarcely compare the 
impressions of his different senses, so as to infer, makes 
some poor amends for defect in variety by repetition of 
the same impressions, and contents himself with few 
objects, seeming to set his affection upon a small range 
of sensations, as if the ideas derived from them were 
capable of endless multiplication. His faculties are out 
of tune, and the chords vibrate at random with scarce 
an accidental harmony. The soul, when not engaged 
in active exertion or pursuit, is apt to become more con- 
scious of the body, and during the unfitness for exercise 
which bodily feebleness produces, there is leisure to at- 



46 MENTAL CONTROL. 

tend to every impression made upon the senses. This 
state readily becomes confirmed into a habit, and hence 
those subject to the misery of chronic debility, when 
not sustained by higher thoughts, are ever ready to fill 
the friendly ear with a catalogue of their complaints. 
The man of maladies is a man of many words, unless, 
under the constant sense of infirmity, he has been ren- 
dered so completely hypochondriacal as to lose the hope 
of sympathy, and to hide himself from all sociality in the 
gloomy solitude of his own fancies, forever haunted by 
the demon of disease. This, however, is just the char* 
acter that Jesus would have gone out of his way to tran- 
quilize and bless ; if, indeed, to do good could ever have 
been beside his purpose ; and if Christians more nearly 
imitated him whom they profess to follow, there would 
be far less of moody melancholy among us than unhap- 
pily exists. 

The mercy of God is practical, and His benevolence 
toward each individual is demonstrated by the power 
He has conferred on each to act. Every one who is 
not deprived of the opportunity of using his muscles, 
has, to a great extent, the means of enjoyment under 
his own command, for, with a proper motive, that is, 
with faith in God, action is happiness. We have four 
hundred and fifty voluntary muscles on purpose that we 
may employ them, and if we do not, the nervous power 
that should have energized them will be the cause o! 
torment, by producing morbid sensibility ; thus the idle, 
so far from being truly indolent, meet an appropriate 
punishment in their own habits. 

The effect may be accounted for by considering the 
influence of attention ; a great pain prevents our per- 
ceiving a lesser ; even the terrible disease — tetanus, is 
arrested by substituting a more excruciating infliction. 
According to this principle of substitutional action, sen- 
sibility and muscular energy counterpoise each other 



MENTAL CONTROL. 47 

When the mind is intently set on using the muscles, it 
scarcely perceives any thing but what it wishes. In- 
furiated madmen, in their violence, will inflict deadly 
injuries on themselves without feeling ; and the soldier, in 
the warmth of the fray, when comes " the tug of war," 
is unconscious of his wounds : and the brutal pugilist in 
the ring bears bruising like an ass, but afterward, in the 
leisure of the sick-bed, his muscles tremble and his voice 
becomes querulous, and, as Shakspeare makes Cassius 
say of the fevered Caesar, — 

" When the fit was on him, I did mark 
How he did shake. I did hear him groan : 
Alas ! he cried, give me some drink, Titinius, 
As a sick girl." 

Peculiar condition of nerve also contributes to exces- 
sive sensibility ; thus it happens, in some forms of palsy, 
that the feeling which is altogether deficient in one part, 
is exquisite in another. It is not unfrequently found 
that the affection of the brain which induces paralysis of 
nerves of volition increases the power of those of sensa- 
tion : thus I have seen a person groaning from the press- 
ure of the bed-clothes, and to whom a breath of cool 
air was agony, who nevertheless had no power to move 
his muscles. 

It appears as if sensibility were due to the presence 
of some subtile fluid which traverses the nerves, and 
that an interruption to its transmission in one direction 
or through one set of nerves caused its accumulation in 
another, so that when the mind acts upon those nerves 
unduly supplied, the effect exceeds what it would do in 
perfect health. Still it would be absurd to adopt the 
language of certain physiologists, and speak of sensibility 
itself as being accumulated in one part rather than an- 
other. Sensibility implies sensation, and both must be 
the result of something which is put in motion by the 
mind acting on the nerve ; or else it must arise from 



48 MENTAL CONTROL. 

the mind itself being impressed by a change in the state 
of the nerve. The impression of an injury is not per- 
ceived until the mind voluntarily acts upon the part 
affected, or until the attention is withdrawn from what- 
ever may at the time happen to engross it. This cir- 
cumstance affords a positive proof that sensation and 
sensibility are mental states or mental cognitions of bodily 
impression. 

But sensation is modified both by the condition of the 
body and by the state of the mind with regard to it. 
Thus we find that, in the peculiar condition of mind and 
body attending mesmeric sleep (according to the testi- 
mony of honest witnesses, whom I the more readily be- 
lieve from what I have seen), persons may have their 
limbs removed without pain, and the exposed extremi- 
ties of the divided nerves being roughly handled, causes 
only a sense of titillation, under which the patient laughs 
like a tickled child. Pain, indeed, is but the excess of 
an impression which, in a milder form, is pleasure ; and 
the same degree of impression is either one or the other, 
according to the state of attention at the time, or accord- 
ing to the association of the mind. In many respects, 
pain is really an acquired feeling, like fear, and it arises 
from the mind being taught to associate certain sensa- 
tions' with the idea of danger. Thus when the Esqui- 
maux first had razors given to them, they used to gash 
their tongues for the pleasure of the new sensation of 
being cut with so keen an instrument ; but after they 
learned there was danger in such wounds, they never 
cut themselves without an expression of pain. 

The cause of irritability remains among the many 
undiscovered secrets of our nature, but from what we 
know concerning the conditions of its development, it 
appears probable that it depends upon the presence of 
that, whatever it be, which, together with a peculiar state 
of nerve and mind, produces sensibility. The contraction 



MENTAL CONTROL. 49 

and tone of muscles are attributable to that property of 
their fibers by which, under certain stimulants, they alter 
their relative position. Dr. Marshall Hall and others 
have proved that the irritability of the muscles is influ- 
enced by nervous connection, and is more especially due 
to the action of the spinal chord. It is here peculiarly 
worthy of remark, that volition, acting through the brain, 
tends to exhaust the irritability of the voluntary muscles, 
and invariably induces a sense of debility when continued 
without due intervals of rest to allow the restoration of 
their power under the nervation of the spinal system. 
Thus it appears that the thinking and willing faculties 
operate through a nervous apparatus in some measure 
antagonist to that which supplies irritability, or the power 
of contracting the muscles. If a muscle be paralyzed 
by injury in a nerve of volition, which, of course, is nat- 
urally called into action by the mind acting on the brain, 
we find that in such a case the muscle it supplied is 
more irritable and more disposed to contract when exci- 
ted by reflex action, as in tickling or pinching. This is 
the consequence of its continued connection with the 
spinal chord ; for if this connection be broken, its power 
of contracting is in a short time destroyed. 

The emotional and reflex actions are intimately asso- 
ciated; the latter, indeed, are the very same kinds of 
motions which serve to give automatic expression to our 
feelings ; yet the propriety of observing the distinction 
between them will at once appear, when we remark 
that reflex actions are not necessarily connected with 
consciousness ; but emotion is feeling in its intensest 
form — namely, that which belongs to our passions. If 
we cut off a snake's head, and then wound the middle 
of the body, the neck turns toward the wounded part, 
as it would have done with the head on. This is a re- 
flex action, probably electric, induced by impression on 
the nerves, which cause sensation and at the same time 
4 



50 MENTAL CONTROL. 

excite the nerves that contribute to instinctive motion. 
It is evident, in this case, that will and feeling have 
nothing to do with the action. Remove the head of a 
frog, and the frog will lie apparently dead, but yet, if 
you pinch its toe, its leg will be drawn up. Now, how 
do we know that it does not feel ? Cut the creature in 
two, either transversely or longitudinally. In the former 
case, either its lower or upper extremities will move on 
being irritated, and, in the latter case, the limbs on either 
side will move. But then again, it may be asked, how 
do we know that each section is not endowed with sep- 
arate consciousness ? Reason might well conclude that 
it could not be ; but, in man's experience, we have con- 
clusive demonstration on the point. A person palsied 
in consequence of injury to the spinal chord is without 
feeling in his legs, and yet they move when irritated. 
This action is neither felt nor in any measure controlled 
in such a case ; but were the nervous system sound, and 
the mind suitably directed, the will would restrain the 
action ; for though reflex actions are involuntary, yet 
they are often prevented by volition, as when one with 
a ticklish foot submits to have it handled, and resists the 
tendency in the muscles to snatch it away. There are, 
then, two symptoms of motives in man, the instinctive 
and the rational ; and these are in correspondence with 
two systems of nerves. Man is endowed with a brain 
such as he has for the purpose of exercising greater at- 
tention in comparing objects, and also for the purpose of 
controlling instinctive impression according to reason. 
The sensual impulse of instinct is so great that the im- 
pression in one sense is not corrected by that on other 
senses, as in man. Comparison, on which judgment 
depends, is deficient even in the highest class of animals : 
thus Blumenbach's ape, having got hold of a large work 
on insects, turned over the leaves with a very studious 
air, but he pinched out all the painted beetles and ate 



MENTAL CONTROL. 51 

them, mistaking the pictures for real insects. His taste 
and touch did not serve to detect the deception of his 
eye while under the excitement of appetite produced 
by the image of the thing which he naturally relished. 

However our reason and experience may incline us 
to think of specific organizations, our reflections on in- 
stinct would lead us to a very consolatory conclusion, 
because it indicates the incessant and boundless benevo- 
lence of God. All creatures purely instinctive, such as 
insects, appear to me to be incapable of positive pain, 
but abundantly endowed with the capacity of pleasure. 
Their every action results from direct impression, so as 
always to be accompanied by a feeling of enjoyment, or 
a sense of doing what is desired, the desire, the action, 
and the exciting cause of the action, being connected 
without interval, and without comparison. Thus an in- 
sect, although cut in two, will seize its food with avidity. 

We say, then, that mere instinctive creatures, in work- 
ing out the designs of God, who works in them, have 
apparently no design or intention of their own, for mere 
instinct can not choose nor be disappointed, and yet its 
every movement is a pleasure, a gratified impulse. Thus 
bees collect honey and wax, working in darkness with 
superhuman skill and harmony together, and producing 
the means of enjoyment, and of the perpetuation of 
their kind, without real forethought, but simply because 
such and such actions of their organization are agreea- 
ble. Thus the Almighty directly fills lower creatures 
with their happiness, while they remain entirely un- 
conscious of their end. They can not be educated 
for futurity. Man, however, reflects on sensation, con- 
ceives sentiments, expects consequences, meditates on 
coming events, and governs feeling. Those animals 
which most nearly approach him never suppress the ut- 
terance of their feelings as he does, and this utterance 
at once diverts from suffering. Even the severest hu- 



52 MENTAL CONTROL. 

man agony is alleviated by its free and full expression, 
for this involves action, and demands the exercise of the 
will, and thus directs the mind into new channels. The 
wounded heart finds its relief in lamentation, but the 
spirit that will not complain, or bears an unutterable 
grief, must corrode the nerves, and quickly bring the 
body to the grave. Man, in spite of his instincts, rea- 
sons and hopes as an intellectual, and therefore as a 
moral creature. He has hence a stronger will than any 
other being on earth, and is, of course, subject to greater 
and more frequent disappointments, because he is liable 
to impediments to his purposes, both from the wills of 
others, and from his own constitution ; and he can not 
be as happy as he is intended to be, unless consciously 
working in obedience to what he knows of the will of 
God. This is all that is meant by holiness. Man's hap- 
piness, however, is rather in his hopes than merely in his 
actions ; action without hope is his misery, and, there- 
fore, the higher his hopes, or the higher his faith in 
their fulfillment in keeping with the revealed mind of 
his Maker, the greater is his blessedness. Because man 
is capable of believing, he is capable of an infinite educa- 
tion by acquaintance with endless facts ; and, therefore, 
he is fit for an eternal existence, because he can reason 
on the works of God, and enjoy the manifestations of 
His wisdom and love forever. 

There is many a fine spirit so mistaken as to gather 
clouds about its path which obscure the light of heaven, 
and whose conscientiousness causes the feelings of the 
body, opposing and distracting the better desires of the 
mind, to seem like the witness in themselves of a per- 
petual condemnation. Surely it will relieve such souls, 
clothed as they are with humility, to know that there 
are impressions made on the nervous organization which 
are unavoidably followed by excitements which, to a great 
degree, necessarily involve the mind, and which are pos- 



MENTAL CONTROL. 53 

itively sinful, or merely healthy stimulus to moral vigor, 
just iu proportion as a man may voluntarily indulge them, 
or resist them, as experience, or the better teaching of 
revealed religion, may instruct him. Such are the natu- 
ral appetites, all of which require control, and some of 
which, under certain circumstances, must be absolutely 
suppressed if we would enjoy the proper dignity of man- 
hood. Whether we know it or not, the excitants of 
passion are always acting on us as long as they are pres- 
ent. The cardinal vices are conquered only by shunning 
them, but they can not be shunned except by our seek- 
ing the society of the cardinal virtues. Yet righteous- 
ness involves obedience to physical as well as to moral law. 
This is true religion, which no man can obey unless 
impelled by motives derived from Heaven. That man 
is righteous overmuch who attempts, or pretends to, a 
righteousness in opposition to the laws of his nature, 
for it is not more in the nature of a reasonable being to 
act from religious motives, than it is for him to obey the 
demands of his appetites just to that extent, and no 
more, which may benefit his own moral existence, and 
promote the well-being of others. However much the 
instinctive law in the members may war against the law 
of the mind, means are provided to secure the moral 
triumph. The sane man need not succumb to the brute. 
He is endowed, when rightly informed and acquainted 
with pure objects of affection, with a power of self-gov- 
ernance which no inferior creature possesses. In his 
own person he seems to include all lower natures ; and 
as to man was given the dominion over all animated 
things, so he proves his fitness for authority by govern- 
ing the animal nature within his own body. The very 
fact that where he is duly instructed and encouraged, as 
by the doctrines and examples of Christianity, he really 
rises into the highest position of intelligence, that of a 
being sympathizing with God, proves that the human 



54 MENTAL CONTROL, 

mind was made to be governed by principles distinct 
from those which operate in lower beings. In short, 
morality and religion were brought from heaven, and 
are the visible evidences among us that God has set His 
heart upon the restoration of man to the bliss of holi- 
ness, and of Himself. 

The power of the prepared mind to resist impressions 
on the body is exhibited plainly in the effects of sudden 
surprise. The soul, when thus impressed through 
either of the senses, summons in an instant all the ener- 
gies of the body — every muscle is roused, every fiber 
intense. If any part be diseased, the shock is apt to 
produce permanent and perhaps fatal injury there. But 
it is beautiful to see how the state of mind prevents all 
disturbance by preparing the body for any expected call 
to action. The most courageous man is a coward when 
taken by surprise, and the Indian, that stands firm as a 
martyr at the stake, will start like an antelope at a sud- 
den sound. A case will further illustrate this interest- 
ing subject. A man is nearly poisoned with strychnin© 
or nux vomica, and from its peculiar effects in exalting 
the function of part of the spinal chord, there exists an 
excessive tendency to impulsive and reflex action. A 
universal spasm or convulsion is excited by the slightest 
unexpected touch on any part of the body, but such is 
the power of the mind over the nerves and muscles, that, 
the patient being forewarned, the touch produces no 
such effect. The sensibility to external impressions is 
so great when persons are under the influence of strych- 
nine, that the slightest touch of the finger near the ribs 
will cause uncontrollable fits of laughter. The reflex 
action suggests to the mind the feeling connected with 
that peculiar play of the muscles experienced in laugh- 
ing, and the will at once gives way to the feeling. This 
explains hysteric laughter arising from spinal irritation. 

The power of mental determination in bearing and 



MENTAL CONTROL. 55 

resisting impressions on the body, whether originating 
in pure emotion of mind, or in the nerves connected 
with the organs which manifest emotion, seems to de- 
mand the use of the muscles as the means of diminish- 
ing the intensity of feeling, and of exhausting the sensi- 
bility. We have already seen, that powerful muscular 
contractibility and exalted impressibility are to a great 
degree opposed to each other. But excess in the one 
often terminates in excess of the other, and a sort of 
vibration continues in the nervous system until the bal- 
ance is restored by a general exhaustion. This fre- 
quently happens in diseases which more especially in- 
volve the feelings of the mind, as well as the nerves 
belonging to instinctive impulse. Hysteria is such a 
disease ; but its terrible paroxysms are not unfrequently 
overcome by great bravery of effort, in using the volun- 
tary muscles, and in directing the nervous energy, as 
well as the thoughts, into new channels. Even the 
convulsive spasm of hooping-cough is greatly checked, 
when occurring in the adult, by the resolute mind fixing 
the body with every muscle on the stretch, until perspi- 
ration starts from every pore. The manner in which 
the mind prepares to meet the shock of agony is well 
seen i*v the tenseness of muscle with which the brave 
sailor qr soldier bears the debasing blows of the cat- 
o'nine-tails ; but still finer heroism is often witnessed in 
those enfeebled sufferers who hopefully endure the 
severest operations without a groan. 

Impulses of instinctive character may often become so 
uncontrollably powerful as to hurry a man to deeds of 
madness, when disease of the brain, or even an unrea- 
sonable habit of employing it by giving license to appetite, 
diminishes the mind's proper control over the nerves. 
In delirium, and other derangement, this is often seen. 
In some cases, the patient acts as if in a dream, without 
any mental association with things around him, but in 



50 MENTAL CONTROL. 

other instances he is aware of the irrational nature of the 
feelings by which he is impelled, and he warns those 
about him against the violence to which he is tempted, 
and which he feels he can not resist. It is not uncom- 
mon for patients to solicit restraint, on perceiving a tend- 
ency to the recurrence of such a mania, rather than ex- 
pose those they love to the risk 6f being injured. The 
control of the rational mind over impulsive disposition is 
wonderful. A breath of air, a ray of light, a motion, a 
sound, or a sight, even the thought of any bright object, 
excites the fiercest convulsions in hydrophobia ,* and yet, 
in confident obedience to what was believed to be the 
Saviors will, a sufferer from this terrific disease has 
taken the cup of blessing in his hand, and firmly and stead- 
ily drank from the silver chalice, peaceful for a while, as 
he who sat clothed and in his right mind at the feet of 
Him who cast out the demon that no man could tame. 

Here, then, we find the grand moral of our enigmatic 
nature. We are constituted for suffering, but also for 
triumph over suffering. The human will is to be deter- 
mined by moral and religious motives, and its highest 
point of strength is quiet submission in the faith of what 
we know concerning the good-will of our Maker toward us. 
The body of man is formed on the principle of affording 
due exercise to reason in resisting impulse, and reason, 
when rightly informed, always rightly determines, and, 
under the encouragement of social affections, will also act 
correctly. Even the Spartan youth, trained in that her- 
oism of pride which deemed vice virtue, until detected, 
allowed the stolen fox to tear away his entrails rather 
than evince a sign of agony. "Why, then, should we, 
who possess the highest motives in the friendship of the 
highest Being, in all that intellect and religion can confer, 
why should we complain of our inheritance of fleshly ill 1 
He who truly loves truth has no vain desire. We feel 
assured it is our duty and our dignity to yield ourselves 



MENTAL CONTROL. 57 

wholly to the will that ordains the perfecting of our spirit- 
ual existence through the trials of the natural. The trib- 
ulation that confers vigor and perpetuity on our heavenly 
affections is undoubtedly a badge of godly honor. The 
mental might called into action by Christian principles is 
not only the cause of individual, but also of national superi- 
ority ; and the nations that know nothing of this fountain 
of energy are melting away, and will vanish from the 
earth, if they be not brought under the dominion of those 
in whom the highest religious thoughts have given the 
highest stimulus to intelligence and industry. Man is 
capable of greater suffering than any other creature on 
earth, but he is also capable of higher and intenser en- 
joyments, and that simply because he is a man and not 
merely an animal. He lives at large, the denizen of eter- 
nity ; and he is able to u believe all things, hope all things, 
and endure all things," with the consciousness that God 
owns him, not only as his creature, but as his offspring. 
Therefore, let us not say, with the mistaken bard, in 
whom passion and impulse so strongly warred against 
knowledge — 

Dearly bought the hidden treasure 

Finer feelings can bestow, 
Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure 

Thrill the deepest notes of woe ! Burns. 

Rather let us rejoice that the soul of man is trained by 
trials. He must suffer, to be great ; he must conquer 
himself and the world, in order to be forever mighty. 
For this end the reasonable spirit of man is instructed 
by truth, the mind of God revealed within him, that he 
may rise in faith above instincts, passions, and opinions, 
and come forth an eternal hero, who, through submission 
in weakness, arms himself with omnipotence. 

He who would force the soul, tilts with a straw 
Against a champion cased in adamant. 

Wordsworth- 



CHAPTER V. 

INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 

The idea of an individualism is probably derived from 
the use of the body, as it is a consciousness of oneness 
in successive actions, a feeling that the different organs 
and diversified sensations belong to one being, who, in 
employing instruments and regarding objects, connects a 
sense of the past with the present, and thus renders all 
experience a proof of its own ipseity* We speak of the 
identity of the body simply because we are conscious of 
acting in a body, but it matters not to us whether it con- 
sist of identically the same particles or not, since our 
feeling of personality depends not on that knowledge ; 
for if we felt the atoms of the physical body constantly 
changing, as they really appear to do, we still should feel 
ourselves to be the same, since we remember, conceive, 
imagine, act, will, and not our bodies. A being that has 
once felt never loses its identity, however much it may 
confound sensations; or fail to interpret them ; the veiy 
fact of consciousness is a demonstration to itself of the 
sameness of that which is conscious. 

Though existence itself is the great mystery, there is 
nothing in the profound depths of Nature's secrets more 
stupendous in its consequences, or more awfully sublime 
m the vastness of its interests, than the fact that each 
one of us possesses an inherent faculty of self-hood, by 
which all ideas, all thoughts, all volitions, and all feelings 
that can arise in the history of our individual being are 
made at once, and forever, our own. The power or 



INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 59 

principle within us by which we recognize our distinct 
standing as creatures, each one with peculiar relations 
to the rest of creation, and different from that of all 
others, is the result of the mind that is infinite working 
through infinite means to one end, the demonstration of 
Omnipotence, or boundless unity through endless vari- 
ety. Every atom is a proof of the divine presence, and 
every mind a response to God, for He constitutes the 
identity both of atoms and of minds, each in itself an un- 
alterable unity, to be located and manifested in evidence 
of His own will, which alone is power. Molecules and 
minds have each their affinities because they have un- 
changeable natures. They may stand in new relations, 
but are themselves still the same in reality, for what 
they are, or are capable of, is the consequence of an 
eternal decision, the changeless mandate of the Almigh- 
ty ; and as each atom is a necessary particle in the uni- 
verse of the Universal Intelligence, so each soul is a req- 
uisite portion of the perfect revelation of the Omniscient 
made in and to the creature. Therefore, whether we 
regard individuality in all we can learn of the highest 
created spirit, passing with light from world to world, 
or simply try to peep at it as exhibited in the structure 
and functions, vital and sentient, of the plant-like zoo- 
phyte on the rock, still we are equally incapable of com- 
prehending the marvel revealed to our contemplation. 
We are overwhelmed with wonder; and life, feeling, 
consciousness, oneness of being, equally constrain us to 
exclaim, O Altitudo ! Some writers on this subject have 
endeavored to make it appear that a man loses his iden- 
tity when he passes from one state of consciousness to 
another. It may as well be asserted that our identity is 
lost in consequence of any change in the objects of atten- 
tion. This is really all that happens in our alternations 
of consciousness, since these are but variations in the 
operation of that which remembers. This is fully 



60 INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 

known to all those who are intimate with such disease 
as arrests outward perception, for the moment of its 
accession is generally marked by the patient's reverting 
to some incident or object not connected with what is 
present. Sir Humphry Davy's experiments on him- 
self with nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, afford an apt 
illustration. He says : " After the first six or seven in- 
spirations, I gradually began to lose the perception of 
external things, and a vivid and intense recollection of 
some former experiments passed through my mind, so 
that I called out, i What an annoying concatenation of 
ideas.' " On another occasion, his experiments were 
carried further ; and we find actual insanity developed 
from the mind acting on a brain excessively stimulated. 
"I felt," he observes, "a kind of tangible extension 
highly pleasurable. My visible impressions were daz- 
zling, and apparently magnified. By degrees, as the 
pleasurable sensation increased, I lost all connection with 
external things ; trains of vivid images passed rapidly 
through my mind, and were connected with words in 
such a manner as to produce perceptions perfectly novel., 
I existed in a world of newly connected and newly mod- 
ified ideas." When Southey breathed this gas, he 
called it "the atmosphere of the third heaven." In 
both these instances we witness an exaltation of natural 
character under the influence of a stimulus ; the mind 
was enabled to act more vigorously with an excited 
state of brain. It usually happens that persons fully 
brought under the influence of this stimulant are unable 
to remember what were their feelings during its action. 
Probably the intention of observing what may be felt 
would, as in Sir Humphry Davy's case, always qualify 
the experimenter, in some measure, to remember his 
sensations, just as we find that a somnambulist, being ur- 
gently entreated to recollect what he is dreaming about, 
will sometimes be able to relate it when he awakes. 



INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 61 

We are told that madmen frequently lose their iden- 
tity. Some honest and excellent physiologists, being, 
perchance, unwilling to puzzle themselves with tran- 
scendentalisms, leisurely and deliberately proceed to 
the opposite extreme. It does not, indeed, appear how 
there can be such a thing as personal identity or indi- 
vidualism belonging to man, or at all conceivable, when 
it is assumed as the basis of the science of insanity, that 
the individual thinking soul has no existence. My own 
observation of madness has not been extensive, but it 
has been careful enough to enable me positively to speak 
to the fact, that insane persons do not lose the sense of 
identity simply because they call themselves by new 
names, and fancy themselves possessed of new endow- 
ments. They may talk of being others, and even con- 
found the memory of what they have heard of others 
with their own experience ; yet it is manifest they act 
their assumed characters, however incongruous, in keep- 
ing with their own habits of thought and feeling. If it 
could be proved that a man could really act and feel at 
one time with the actual experience of one person, and 
at another time with that of another person, then, of 
course, any particular man, in his vigilant life, and in all 
stages of his existence, is not the same identical being 
or person, but merely a succession of consciousnesses, 
and we must resign our fond fancy about our individual 
souls. Responsibility is thus at an end, the hopes of 
deathless capacity and immortal glory are extinct. But 
is such a. finale the end of science ? Can science pre- 
sent no better vision to the gifted seer? Has philoso- 
phy no prophets 1 Are we but dust, conscious dust, 
without soul, without the past, without futurity ? Nay, 
we are ; and therefore shall be ! Our faith rests not 
on the correctness of dark man's attempts to interpret 
faculties and functions, but upon the great plan of being 
and the Word of God. The Bible, the universe, and 



62 INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 

the soul, are made for each other by the same Mind. 
So long as men feel that singleness of mind is distinct 
from brain, and believe in their own personality, which 
is not an attribute of the brain, what right have physiol- 
ogists to assume that mind exists not apart from nerves ? 
Or why should they presume to deny, so gratuitously, 
that as the same being directs attention to different or- 
gans for different purposes, so that wiiich thus wills, 
feels, thinks, and acts, is an individual distinct in essence 
from the body it employs ? But those philosophers 
who fancy they have proved that a madman loses his 
identity because he loses his place, also think they see 
a little more deeply into the bottomless abode of truth 
than the commonalty, and contrive to quench the light 
of the Everlasting within them by extinguishing their 
souls, believing that which thinks and feels to be a se- 
cretion from the blood within the brain. They look no 
further than the grave for the end of their existence, 
and find their final rest in rottenness. And because of 
their self-satisfying convictions in this respect, they can 
regard monstrosities with beautiful composure, or take 
occasion from them to ask those who believe that all 
things are possible with God, Where is your soul ? The 
answer is in reserve : " God is his own interpreter.'* 
We are almost sure to interpret very partially, even 
with our best advantages, while filled with a sense of 
incongruity, in consequence of the narrowness and 
obliquity of our vision. We look among the starry 
worlds of light, where order reigns, and think we see 
confusion ! We pry into the arcana of physiology, and 
fancy we discover accidents resulting from divine laws ! 
But there is a spiritual world beyond our ken, and 
probably a knowledge of its laws is essential to our un- 
derstanding the causes and occasions of disturbance in 
material organization and development. Yet this ab- 
struse and most interesting subject may perhaps be 



INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 63 

elucidated, if we endeavor honestly to contemplate the 
very facts which at first sight so much startle us. Mon- 
strosities are certainly permitted for wise ends, and it 
may be on purpose to awaken our inquiry and enable 
us to comprehend what might otherwise be altogether 
hidden from us. We will only allude here to the cir- 
cumstance that we can not imagine monstrosity to have 
happened but from the interference of some power,, 
with a will adverse to the plan of almighty benevolence. 
Disorder is not the direct effect of Jehovah's fiat, but a 
perversion by the act of something contrary to law ; 
and, however difficult it may be to conceive an opposi- 
tion to Omnipotence, yet we know it exists ; and that, 
doubtless, the better ultimately to demonstrate the one- 
ness of wisdom and of might. In our souls we may 
look for the proof. Where is the soul ? says the anat- 
omist ; I can not find it. The viscera do not contain it, 
neither does the brain. We would ask, are electricity, 
magnetism, caloric, light, and life, seen there ? No. 
And yet all these actually reside in the animated ma- 
chinery, as all thinkers are aware ; and these are min- 
isters of mind, servants of the soul, the substantiality of 
whose existence must be as real as any thing it acts on. 
However much we may in our ignorance perplex our- 
selves with lusus naturce and attempts to understand 
the individuality of insects and zoophytes, we need not 
question our own individuality, since the consciousness 
we enjoy so well assures us of our identical nature, as 
to warrant the expectation that each one of us will find 
a place appropriate to his personal existence forever. 

The man is the same being as the infant ; the begin- 
ning is necessary to the end ; and the individual totality 
is not more plainly evinced in the oneness of the body 
used by one will, than in the oneness of the history du- 
ring one life. 

We will glance at a case or two which induced some 



64 INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 

hasty physiologists to sneer at the doctrine of a soul. 
Sometimes two imperfect bodies are joined together, as 
in the Hungarian Sisters, who were united back to back, 
and whose main blood-vessels, the aorta and vena cava 
inferior es, were joined together. They had distinct 
consciousness and mental peculiarities, but their sym- 
pathies with each other were beautiful and intense. 
Here were two souls united by affection, as their bodies 
were by blood-vessels. 

What physiologists expect in such cases does not 
always happen. Thus, in that form of monsters in 
which the upper axis is double, and the lower part 
single, as with Ritta and Christina, it was expected 
that each head wonld possess voluntary influence over 
the entire lower half of the body, but, instead of that, 
it was found that each head governed its corresponding 
lower extremity, and only when the middle line of the 
body was touched was it felt by both individuals. 

Now as we know nothing of the soul but by conscious- 
ness, it is certainly somewhat unphilosophical for the 
physiologist pertly to ask, Where is the soul of a mon- 
ster that exhibits no such consciousness ? God will an- 
swer that question, because He excites us to inquiry on 
purpose to answer us. Let us wait; we shall under- 
stand more of souls ere long. In the mean time, we 
will observe facts as they are the lessons which the All- 
wise has set before us. There is an instructive one 
published in the medical journals for 1821. It is an 
authentic case of a lad who had a headless body grow- 
ing out of his stomach. Whatever part of this supple- 
mental body was touched, the touch was felt by the lad 
as if a corresponding part of his perfect body had been 
touched. Here, then, we have one soul in connection 
with two bodies. But is it not folly to ask, Where was 
the soul of the brainless body, seeing that a soul, if such 
a being exists, must have its place appointed by its Ma- 



INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 65 

ker, and can not by us be known to exist, unless in a 
corporeal frame fitted to manifest it ? 

From these wonderful facts it would appear, that 
when two bodies of similar nature, or with nerve-pow- 
er of the same kind, are closely approximated, they act 
upon each other, and the mind resident in the one, 
being suitably directed by will and attention, perceives 
through the other. They are in nervous rapport with 
each other, and so fully sympathize, as to be, in fact, one 
body or system. Hence we may literally receive the 
language of the apostle : Aut an nescitis quod aggluti- 
natus meretrici unum corpus sit ? (Erunt enim inquit 
duo ad carnem unam.) Of course they are subject to 
the same laws, in consequence of obedience to the same 
impulse. 

Many of the marvels of mesmerism admit of a simi- 
lar interpretation, and he must be a wild kind of phi- 
losopher who would deny the possibility of known facts, 
rather than endeavor to explain them. Mesmerism is 
not a whit more puzzling than many common things in 
natural history. What can be more stupendous than 
the manner in which distinct individuals act in sym- 
pathy together, as most perfectly one, and yet apart ? A 
multitude of unities in the same body, having the same 
feeling and the same desire, and yet susceptible of sepa- 
rate existence as a multitude of individuals, is seen in 
that wonderful compound being, the Virgularia Pata- 
gonica, a polypus, described by Darwin, in his Journal 
of a Naturalist. He says: " Each polypus, though 
closely united to its brethren, has a distinct mouth, 
body, and tenfcacuJe. Of these polypi, in a large speci- 
men, there must be several thousands ; yet we see that 
they act by one movement ; they have also one central 
circulation, and the ova are produced in an organ dis- 
tinct from the separate individuals. Well may we be 
allowed to ask, What is an individual ?" To which we 



66 INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 

reply, that individuality does not necessarily belong to 
one organism only, but as a sense of being is essential 
to it, and this, as far as we know, can only be acquired 
objectively, at least in this world, therefore God pro- 
vides a suitable body for every soul. It is a self-hood 
which brings organs peculiarly and appropriately organ- 
ized under its own power, and into its own sphere, as 
media of sensation and of action. Here w T e discern 
how wisdom, beauty, benevolence, and love, are evinced 
in the plan of creation — the happiness of individuals de- 
pends on sympathy with others, and the feeling of self 
becomes the basis of social union. 

Among human beings there exists such a power of 
sympathetic consent that a multitude maybe apparently 
possessed by the same spirit ; the organism of each in- 
stantaneously taking on the same action simply from 
the general attention being directed to the same objects. 
If we would learn the full extent of sympathy, we must 
study the records of the Dancing Mania, or see the 
Barkers, the Shakers, the Jumpers, the Dervises, and 
other Convulsionaires, at their devotions. There are 
many facts which tend to convince us that a large com- 
pany may be put into such relation to each other, under 
similar circumstances, as that the very same idea shall 
present itself to all at the same moment. 

If, then, a number of perfectly distinct bodies and 
minds are capable of being so completely actuated to- 
gether, we may cease to wonder that a thousand polypi, 
bound in one by a fleshy union, should move as if im- 
pelled by one mind, and experience pains and pleasures 
in common ; consort and consent destroy not our idea 
of individualism, but rather confirm it. Probably, how- 
ever, Darwin's observation led him to too hasty a con- 
clusion ; and what Muller states concerning the Polypi- 
fera may, in every instance, be true — "the irritation of 
a single polype causes the contraction of that one only, 



INDIVIDUALITY AND IDENTITY. 67 

and not of all the polypi of the stem. The stem itself 
has no individuality, it has no will, and is incapable of 
conceiving any objects of desire. In it, however, re- 
sides the power of producing new individuals by the 
power of germination." 



CHAPTER VI. 

MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

The order of the universe is maintained by law. 
Every atom obeys the fiat of. Omnipotence, and there- 
fore takes its place in relation to other atoms. Each 
element possesses a nature and affinity, binding it to the 
connection which the Creator requires it to hold for spe- 
cific purposes, such as the formation of certain definite 
compounds subject to aggregation. But the same power 
which determines the composition of every part and 
every mass of matter, also determines its size and pro- 
portion in regard to other parts and masses. 

We recognize in dead matter four forces : a force 
which causes particles to adhere together, which is called 
the attraction of cohesion ; a force which causes mutual 
action among the elements of which any substance may 
be composed — chemical affinity ; a force which causes 
weight — gravitation ; and a force which tends to separate 
particle from particle, element from element, and to coun- 
teract gravitation itself — repulsion. All these forces are 
subservient to organization, under the qualifying influ- 
ence of the vital principle, which exercises a power that, 
to a certain extent, modifies all material operations ; 
while another power, still more inscrutable — namely, 
mind, controls the living organization, to the formation 
of which all the other forces contributed. We, of course, 
now confine ourselves to the consideration of organism, 
as existing in our own bodies, which are manifestly con- 
structed to subserve the purooses of that which feels, 
acts, and thinks within them. 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 69 

Having the help of something more than mere induc- 
tion from the evidences of our senses, concerning the 
nature of the power to which belong the faculties of con- 
sciousness and reason, truth requires us to adopt her 
own dogmatism, and to assert the existence of the soul, 
not as a mere inference from what we know, or fancy 
we know, concerning the powers of nature, but because 
we believe that our Maker has informed us of the fact, 
not only by intuitive conviction, but also in express 
words. Yet our investigations of bare matter, and all 
we can learn of the laws which govern it, instruct us 
also to look beyond chemistry and mechanism for the 
origin, not merely of mind, but even of life. Neither 
of these principles can result from mixtures of matter. 
Mind can be compared only to the creative power of 
which life and material combinations are consequences, 
not causes. Mind is but the action of our own souls, 
the manifestation of a spirit in the body, by which we 
become conscious of changes in our condition. Every 
being thus susceptible of experience is a distinct indi- 
vidual. Now the body is formed for the use of this 
being, that it may be put in relation to the surrounding 
world, and be capable, according to circumstances, of 
feeling the forces which have been just mentioned. In 
order, however, to our better apprehension of their in- 
fluences, it is requisite briefly to examine the doctrine 
of development, and to investigate the nature of those 
bodily endowments through which the soul is made ac- 
quainted with the agencies of this rich world. Physi- 
ologists are in the habit of describing mind as one of the 
products of organization. As well may we say, the light 
which manifests what it falls on, is a product of that 
which is manifested. Does not physiology itself teach 
us, that a formative principle existed antecedently to 
development, and that this principle is at all periods of 
life independent of special organs, and is manifested in 



70 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

plants without even a nervous system ? And in insects, 
if not in higher tribes, we see that it successively alters 
the entire system of nerves, as well as of the other or- 
gans, so that the metamorphoses follow each other so 
strangely that there is not the least similarity in the 
form or in the habits of the same creature between its 
first and last stages. Moreover, this formative principle 
is propagated ; and, more marvelous still, it is propagated 
with a tendency to produce the moral as well as physi- 
cal resemblance of two parents in an individual person. 
Now the physical peculiarities and condition of this 
person are due to the formative principle which existed 
before the development of his body, in as far as that 
Which caused development must have preceded that 
which it caused. If, then, the principle which, oper- 
ating on matter, forms the body of a man, be not the 
mere product or result of development, surely that 
which forms mental conceptions, and compares past 
with present ideas, so as to reason concerning them, 
or to draw conclusions by which future conduct is de- 
termined, and by which the thoughts are directed on- 
ward into eternity, can not be such a product. 

This believing, reasoning principle, which recognizes 
the Almighty and adores him, is surely less likely to be 
a result of development than that blind, unconscious 
power which modifies matter according to laws which 
Omnipotence has imposed on life and atoms. It is 
mind that consummates as well as commences creation ; 
and the intelligence, which in each of us learns through 
material impressions, must belong to a distinct indi- 
vidual, generated only by the direct will and purpose of 
the Creator, not out of matter, nor from nothing, but 
by the operation of his own power to specific ends ; for 
each individual is an idea of God, and therefore it can 
not be really confounded with another being, much less 
with organs and secretions. 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 71 

A person can not be a material product. In making 
this assertion, we do not go back to the fables and fol- 
lies of Plato for eternal archetypes and uncreated ideas, 
but we take our Maker's word concerning our origin, 
and exult in the felt fact that our souls are His, and that 
He himself inspires us with understanding and power, 
and gives each of us a body and perception as it pleases 
Him. We exist individually by the direct and constant 
operation of the Almighty. 

Matter, however, is as truly an evidence of omnipo- 
tent power as mind itself, for, in fact, the existence of 
the material elements proves the existence of their 
Maker. What is organic force or vital energy, what 
the affinity of atoms, what the force that rounds a dew- 
drop, and regulates a universe ? Do we arrive any nearer 
to the solution of the grand problem of phenomena by 
asserting, with Reil, that there are original differences 
in the composition and form of all organic bodies '? 
Where and what is the agency by which they acquired 
their original tendency to assume such forms ? And 
why does every atom of every element exist with unal- 
terable properties, which allow it to combine with other 
atoms only in peculiar manners, in definite proportions, 
and with specific results ? We can only answer, that the 
might and mind of the Designer determine the nature 
of every being, and therefore, matter is no less a dem- 
onstration of his power than is our own consciousness. 

I contend not with materialists to depreciate the sub- 
lime and beautiful worlds revolving in light and immen- 
sity around us, nor to diminish the admiration of the 
marvelous and intricate combinations of divine work- 
manship existing in our bodies. Whether we look 
abroad with the astronomer among the innumerable 
hosts of heaven, or search with the anatomist into the 
structure of our frames, we equally endeavor to gaze 
upon the Infinite, for the microscope and the telescope 



72 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

alike inform us of an eye that sees beyond their reach, 
and of a touch that adjusts atoms, the weight of which 
none of our analyzers of light can estimate. We see no 
reason why matter should not be perpetuated. The 
power that made it can alone annihilate it ; but because 
we believe the Creator works not at hazard, but with 
eternity always present, we can not suppose annihilation 
possible. Therefore, we can not imagine the association 
of mind with matter to be any impediment to immortal- 
ity ; but my difficulty is to believe, with the materialist, 
that matter itself thinks, or with him to conclude, that 
the continuance of matter in a peculiar form is essential 
to the perpetuity of consciousness. We can rather 
believe that mind imparts its immortality to matter, than 
that matter may confer it on mind. There is, however, 
no other objection to the material hypothesis of mental 
existence than that it is insufficient to account for facts, 
and does not agree with what we experience of mind, 
nor does it allow us to receive the dictum of that strong- 
ly authenticated book, the Bible, concerning the existence 
of spirits. 

What has reason to do with matter, or its affinities, in 
forming an idea of any of the divine attributes ? When 
once we have acquired, through sensible objects undoubt- 
edly, a notion of duration and of power, we can, as before 
observed, if we determine to think, conceive a faint idea 
of Omnipotence. Now the mind that attends to this 
idea is not material, for even if we supposed there could 
be no attention and no idea without the body, we must 
yet imagine a power or principle capable of influencing 
the body voluntarily, so as to attend and to conceive 
thoughts through it. Matter may be the medium 
through which the Almighty intends always to express 
his will, as he does here, but still it is only a medium. 
fitted to our senses as at present constituted. He teaches 
us the diffusiveness of His love in the light, and legibly 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 73 

writes His name on every one of His creatures, but the 
mind that interprets the handwriting and intuitively 
perceives the meaning of Jehovah's language, must be 
akin to that which designed and created all that we be- 
hold and desire to understand. 

He is full of cant who will not acknowledge what he 
believes ; *and that man is honest who says what he 
means, and endeavors to give a reason for it, however 
much he may be mistaken ; and it behooves those who 
discuss such subjects to prove at least some degree of fit- 
ness for the purpose, if only in the control of their tem- 
pers, since to despise another's intellect, to suspect his 
integrity, or to ridicule his convictions, is but poor evi- 
dence either of philosophical enlightenment or of Chris- 
tian feeling. 

Every living creature evinces certain tendencies to 
development, and, from its earliest formation to its matu- 
rity, it grows according to a plan, which is not complete 
until the characteristic degree and kind of mind belong- 
ing to its race is manifested through an appropriate 
organization. We have already stated this developing 
power in the formation of the human framework to be 
at first discoverable in so small a quantity of matter, that 
the anatomist can scarcely examine it, even with the 
best microscope. It commences in the invisible world. 
Something consisting of parts, and yet so minute as to 
elude research, gradually becomes a visible germinal 
vesicle, in which is concentrated all that, under favorable 
circumstances, becomes the body of a full-grown man. 
The identical being which, after thirty years' residence 
and accommodation on earth, expatiates after the man- 
ner of a god, is, perhaps, contained in that vesicle ; if so, 
an insect's egg is a wide world compared with the first 
abode of humanity. In that point of matter dwells a 
condensed light, which incorporates what it needs for its 
own manifestation. This, it may be, is not merely a 



74 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

metaphor. The most remarkable fact connected with 
the first visible ovum is the intense brilliancy of the fluid 
within the germinal vesicle. Would not this circum- 
stance justify our inference, that the central germ pos- 
sesses a strong affinity for light, and that it is formed of 
a pure and simple element. Newton was not fanciful 
in judging of the composition of the diamond by its rela- 
tion to light ; nor are we, if we demand special attention 
to similar relations existing in the germinal vesicle. 

It has been, perhaps somewhat presumptuously, as- 
serted, that the human being is developed through pro- 
gressive stages, in each of which the type of some lower 
grade has been preserved. This is a mistake. The 
human embryo presents no real analogy to that of any 
inferior creature. In order to prove the above assertion, 
it would be necessary to show more than general re- 
semblance, for, unless the preceding stage furnish an 
exact similarity of arrangement, in all its parts, to a 
lower type, a superior development can not properly be 
said to spring from an inferior species; and the argument 
for development, as propounded by those who contend 
that man is an expanded monkey, must entirely fail. As 
each creature, in its origin, is designed to a distinct place, 
so its total organization is specifically prepared. There- 
fore, any interference or arrest of development, at any 
stage, does not cause it to stop short as a perfect, though 
inferior creature, but monstrosity is produced : a mani- 
fest disturbance of creative design by forces out of place, 
which could not happen if disorder from some will were 
not permitted to oppose the Creator's, for the purpose 
of proving Omnipotence as the Healer. 

Each new being is a new creation. The truth of 
this we shall acknowledge, if we rightly consider the 
subject; for even a new arrangement of matter could 
not be effected without the exercise of creative power 
in a new direction. This is beautifully evinced in the 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 75 

production of one being from the ovum engendered in 
another. The ovum is a cell in which other cells are 
developed in a specific manner in each class and species 
of animals. Dr. M. Barry, who presents an extraor- 
dinary example of patient intelligence laboring from love 
of truth, and whose accuracy may be depended on, in- 
forms us that the process of development in mammalia 
commences by the disappearance of the germinal vesicle, 
and by the formation of two cells in its stead, each of 
which gives origin to two others, and so on, until the 
germ consists of cells too numerous to count. Each cell 
is filled with the rudiments of new cells, which are ar- 
ranged around a pellucid point. The process of devel- 
opment in each cell is similar to that of the germinal 
vesicle, or parent cell, from which all spring. These 
are the earliest visible beginnings of the germ preceding 
the formation of the embryo, which is produced out of 
the germ by a peculiar arrangement of cells, each one 
of which goes to form an organ. The ovum may pass 
at least twenty-one stages of specific development, and 
contain, beside the embryo, four membranes, one of 
which has two laminae, before it has attained the diame- 
ter of half-a-line. 

It appears that even the shape of the cells of the yolk 
differs in different tribes of animals. These cells also 
change the chemical character of their contents during 
development, and the process and periods of this change 
differ in different grades. The substance of each em- 
bryo is composed of cells having a determinate charac- 
ter. Every vessel, every nerve, has at first a separate 
existence and development, and every organ, which 
ultimately becomes single, is at first double. But the 
parts of a complicated animal, such as man, are more 
numerous from their first appearance. The subdivis- 
ions are originally greater, and the development does 
not take place by additional parts merely, but by tbeir 



76 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

enlargement and coalescence; therefore the higher 
classes of beings can not be mere developments of lower 
classes. The superior tribes present, in their early 
stages, certain appendages which have been injudi- 
ciously compared to those belonging to inferior grades ; 
for instance, something like gills appear in the embryos 
of mammalia, when arrived at about the sixth of their 
uterine incubation, yet these parts are not gills, nor, 
properly speaking, analogous to gills as such, as those 
of mollusca, or those of osseous fishes. They could not 
be developed into gills, nor could they answer any simi- 
lar purpose, simply because they are merely the cleft 
arches which all embryos have near their necks in con- 
sequence of the general plan of structure by which the 
vessels and nerves of the opposite sides are joined to- 
gether. This brief argument may be suitably summed 
up in the words of Muller : " Not long since it was sup- 
posed, and seriously affirmed by many naturalists, that 
the human embryo passed through the different stages 
of development, which are permanent conditions of other 
animals. This was a very bold hypothesis, and one that 
is by no means correct. Its falsity was well demonstra- 
ted by Von Baer. The human embryo, in fact, at no 
period resembles a radiate animal, or an insect, a mol- 
luscous creature, or worm. It is not true even that 
man resembles at one time a fish, at another time the 
amphibia or reptiles, and at another time a bird ; he 
merely bears the same resemblance to a fish which he 
does to a bird or reptile, namely, the resemblance which 
all vertebrate animals bear to each other." The argu- 
ment in favor of original identity of germ, from a gen- 
eral resemblance at any period of development, amounts, 
then, to nothing, since the embryo of man never so far 
resembles any inferior animal that a skillful anatomist 
would not discover a wide difference between them. 
Many a puny philosopher, with just shrewdness 



MATERIALISM \ND DEVELOPMENT. 77 

enough to puzzle himself and unsettle faith while ex- 
amining facts, has asked, " Where is the soul of the 
foetus?" He who sees our substance while yet imper- 
fect informs us, that a body is prepared for the being, 
man ; and therefore we are not wise to say, Where is 
the soul? For until the body is ready and adapted to 
manifest its presence, how can it be evinced ? We see 
it at work as soon as the infant begins to use its senses ; 
and, surely, to look for a demonstration of the soul's 
existence where the means and instruments are not fit 
to reveal it to us, would be as vain as the fool's search 
for golden eggs. We can not see the soul through a 
microscope, but we discover it with our naked eye, 
when, using living organization, we observe it anima- 
ting with thought and feeling the features of those 
around us. 

But, however we may speculate concerning the com- 
mencement and progress of organization, we may fairly 
conclude, that all the functions of mind are the results 
of a spiritual power working according to its own nature 
in that which is corporeal, and subduing matter into 
specific order for specific ends. 

We acknowledge the operation of undeviating general 
laws, but at the same time perceive that the combined 
action of various forces can not create a new conscious 
being, however necessary they may be toward the con- 
struction of a proper abode for it. There is something 
accommodated, something which seems to be present in 
nn inscrutable manner amid the vital, chemical, and me- 
chanical forces, at work from the first organized cell in 
which the body of man is designed to its mature st de- 
velopment. But with this profound subject is connected 
a secret which peculiarly belongs to the Omniscient. 
The holy of holies is before us, where the Highest re- 
veals his glory. We can not lift the veil. Let us bow 
in reverent awe, and wait for fuller knowledge. Such 



78 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

facts relating to creation and procreation, however, as 
are important to our conduct, are sufficiently manifest 
to our understandings, although we still find ourselves 
unable fully to explain them : such is the hereditary 
transmission of peculiar tendencies, both moral and 
physical. Here matter and mind unite in a point which 
science acknowledges to be beyond the reach of her 
microscopic vision. That impressions received by the 
mind of the parent are, in their influence, transmitted 
to the offspring is undeniable, since experiments on an- 
imals have demonstrated the fact in the clearest man- 
ner. Thus Mr. Knight, who investigated the subject 
for a series of years, tells us, " that a terrier, whose 
parents have been in the habit of fighting with polecats, 
will instantly show every mark of anger when he first 
perceives merely the scent of that animal. A young 
spaniel brought up with this terrier showed no such 
emotion, but it pursued a woodcock the first time it 
ever saw one. A young pointer, which had never seen 
a partridge, stood trembling with anxiety, its eyes fixed, 
its muscles rigid, when conducted into the midst of a 
covey of those birds." Yet each of these dogs is but a 
variety of the same species, and to none of that species 
are these habits given by nature. The offspring of the 
shepherd's dog in active service instinctively follows the 
flock, while, if his father or grandfather have been taken 
away from this occupation, he will have lost the art, and 
be difficult to teach. A pup of the St. Bernard's breed, 
born in London, when winter came and the snow was 
on the ground, took to tracing footsteps, after the fash- 
ion of his ancestors. 

It is important to observe that training counteracts 
propensity even in a dog, and although the education of 
a human being does not destroy bodily temperament, 
yet, so long as the faculties are clear, it may always be 
subdued by superior motives. It is only the brutal part 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 79 

of man's nature that seems to be derived. Truth, 
knowledge, religion, are not propensities, but they are 
the correctors of all error. With their aid alone can we 
restrain and guide impulse to right ends ; but, of course, 
the mind that is not amenable to moral law, must be 
altogether subject to brute instincts, and ought to be 
treated accordingly — by physical restraints, and the re- 
moval of excitants. 

Our education, also, may be said to begin with our 
forefathers. The child of the morally instructed is most 
capable of instruction ; and intellectual excellence is 
generally the result of ages of mental cultivation ; but 
degeneracy is most marked at both extremities of soci- 
ety : the highest and lowest classes are those worst ed- 
ucated, both morally and physically speaking. It appears 
from the examination of juvenile delinquents at Park- 
hurst by Mr. Kay Shuttleworth, that the majority were 
found deficient in physical organization, and this no doubt 
was traceable to the parent stock. S. T. Coleridge 
said that the history of a man for the nine months pre- 
ceding his birth would probably be far more interesting, 
and contain events of greater moment than all that follow 
it. Southey fancied Coleridge was not in earnest in ut- 
tering this startling sentence, but perhaps the words con- 
vey too profound a truth for the doctor's former vision. 
Their meaning will shine out if we reflect on the influ- 
ence which the mother's and even the father's habits 
exert on the constitution molded in utero. There the 
groundwork of all history is laid in embryo, and the 
seeds of evil there begin to take root, and to vegetate in 
a genial soil, long before they open their leaves to the 
sky. The soil, indeed, alters not the nature of the 
seed, but vast is its effect on development, and no one 
can doubt that the state of the parent determines, in a 
large measure, the predisposition of the offspring, for 
predisposition in fact signifies only bodily aptitude. 



80 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

It has been said that excessive mental cultivation on 
the part of parents has caused a vast increase of inflam- 
mation and dropsy of the brain in children. The late 
Dr. Davis, of London, stated that eight out of forty-five 
deaths in the Universal Dispensary were produced by 
dropsy of the brain ; and Dr. Allison states, that forty 
out of a hundred and twenty patients die of this dis- 
ease in the New Town Dispensary, Edinburgh. Nearly 
a thousand per annum die of this disease in the metrop- 
olis alone. Dr. Comdet says, that twenty thousand 
deaths occur annually in France from the same malady. 
Other diseases of the brain are proportionably destruc- 
tive, especially in children ; and those who escape death 
in childhood continue throughout life morbidly disposed. 
Dr. Burrow, physician of Bedlam, observes, that six 
sevenths of all the cases admitted to that institution are 
hereditary ; but yet these, it appears, are not more dif- 
ficult of cure than other forms of insanity. Now these 
records have been derived principally from public char- 
itable institutions. It will be granted that the patients 
of such charities are not the most likely to suffer from 
mental cultivation. The facts, at least such as have 
come within my own knowledge, rather tend to dem- 
onstrate that spirit- drinking, debauchery, excess of all 
sorts in the parents, and occasionally the debility of pri- 
vation and the abuse of mercurial medicine, have been 
the principal causes of the lamentable increase of dis- 
eases of the brain in children ; but these are rendered 
more intensely mischievous to the offspring by the mis- 
ery of mind which accompanies bad habits, and depresses 
the moral being into reckless despondency. 

That the acquired peculiarities of mankind are hered- 
itary, we have, then, constant evidence. Can we ex- 
plain this marvel ? No. We may suppose that mental 
habit alters the structure of the brain, and gives a new 
tendency to the nervous system, and that the peculiar- 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 81 

ity thus produced in the parents is carried on to the oil- 
spring. But these are words without knowledge ; 
merely an attempt to hide ignorance, the confused echo 
of a truism. Yet, still worse, some assert that the brain 
changes its own habits. The body surely can not alter 
itself. We can not imagine that mental education is 
merely the result of matter acting on matter. Mind 
(soul) must be at work. We must presuppose conscious- 
ness and volition : the operation of a being which per- 
ceives, wills, and acts, which can not be predicated of any 
combination of the elements. Every thing that can be 
classed with chemical agents must be material ; but feel- 
ing, perception, memory, and will are not in the list of 
elements. If, therefore, that which perceives and wills 
is not material, and yet has power to impress the brain 
of a parent, and to alter the condition of imperceptible 
atoms in his blood, so that the impressions shall be trans- 
ferred to succeeding generations, it follows that the pa- 
rent's state of soul has a modifying influence on the 
ovum, and in some measure determines its after-devel- 
opment. It is, indeed, a wonderful fact, that the expe- 
rience of the parent should produce such a bodily change 
in himself as to affect the future tendencies of his off- 
spring. But so it is ; each new individual inherits a pre- 
disposition according to the habits of those from whom he 
is derived ; thus palpably proving the truth of that start- 
ling declaration, — " I will visit the sins of the fathers on 
the children unto the third and fourth generation of them 
that hate me, and show mercy unto thousands of them 
that love me and keep my commandments." Thanks be 
unto God, when good is brought into operation, the evil 
must wear out, but the good never! If goodness, that is, 
the obedience of faith working by love, were not omnipo- 
tent, society could never be improved; for propensity 
to sin, or to act from selfish impulse alone, is physiologi- 
cally proved to be unavoidable and irresistible, unless the 
6 



82 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

spirit of holiness be imparted. But experience also dem- 
onstrates, that immorality does not necessarily contin- 
ue ; the entrance of true light gives new power and new 
direction to the soul, for then, under divine encourage- 
ment, it looks to Omnipotence for help, and finds it. 
The man whose heart is fixed in the worship of love, 
beholding the beauty of holiness as revealed in Imman- 
uel, is no longer a selfish creature of mere propensities 
and impulses ; he dwells with God ; therefore, what- 
ever is not pure is so far and forever hateful to him ; 
for faith in the Divine Perfectness permits us neither 
to desire what is forbidden, nor to despair of what is de- 
sirable. One thought effects a total revolution in the 
soul. Eternal life absorbs the heart, and ceaseless 
prayer is the sole feeling of a dependent and yet full 
existence. We can not aim too highly, nor hope too ar- 
dently, since the largeness of God's promises is propor- 
tioned to his own power to bestow and man's capacity to 
receive ; and therefore the prospects of the confiding spirit 
are as bright as heaven, and as boundless as eternity. 

Such observations are doubtless outrageous in the eyes 
of spectacled philosophy, but Christians, such as Cole- 
ridge describes as living somewhat outside this world, 
or collaterally with respect to it, have their sight clear 
enough to look with discernment into worlds beyond, 
therefore let the foregoing words stand ; some will read 
their meaning. 

Physical development corresponds with moral quali- 
ties ; the disposition of a creature is manifested in its 
form. The propensity which seems to determine ac- 
tion, exists, however, in many cases, before the organi- 
zation appropriate to the propensity is developed. The 
boy who has heard of battles prefers the sword before 
he possesses the strength to wield it, and the girl presses 
the mimic baby to her bosom in imitation of the mother. 
The young ram butts at his adversary long before his 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 83 

horns appear, and the young cock strikes with the heel 
before the spur begins to bud. Dispositions, however, 
differ just as much as appearances, and no two mature 
creatures resemble each other in habit without some 
similarity of structure, since bodily peculiarity is intend- 
ed as the medium and accommodation of that perceiving, 
willing power, which acts through organs and manifests 
propensity in keeping with its means of enjoyment. 

The propensity and the nervous organization through 
which it is manifested will generally be developed in 
proportion to their exercise. Hence the repetition of 
sensation begets habit, which can not be altered without 
the intervention of some power stronger than that which 
produced it, such as violent disease or great change of 
circumstances. The condition of the senses being alter- 
ed, the sensations are altered, and diseased action of the 
body must disturb the manifestation of mind in proportion 
to the disorder of sensation, because on sensation men- 
tal association and perception mainly depend. Hence 
it follows, that insanity and derangement are necessarily 
incident to every creature with a nervous system liable 
to disease. 

We see that when the indwelling soul can be appeal- 
ed to through the medium of appropriate senses, it is 
capable of visibly influencing the form and expression 
of the features, and of controlling the body, so far as the 
voluntary muscles are fit for its use. And, moreover, 
the prominent state of mind becomes permanently writ- 
ten in the face, and in the very manner of the body. 
This can arise only from that which feels and acts, de- 
termining to a certain extent the development of the 
organization. But this percipient agent existed in the 
body before it evinced consciousness, and why should it 
not possess other powers of determining development 
beside those which are associated with sensation and 
will ? We at least recognize the interesting truth, that 



84 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

the sentient being always tends, under favorable circum- 
stances, to render the body beautiful according to its 
kind. In short, the veiy idea of personal beauty prob- 
ably implies that of a body exactly adapted to exhibit a 
happy soul, so that our notion of a soul, as it should be, 
is that of a union of beauty and bliss. This notion we 
learn from the fact that the spontaneous unopposed and 
undisturbed actings of the spirit within a child that has 
learned to use its senses, are always accompanied by 
agreeable expressions of countenance and attitude. Dis- 
tortion is a violence to nature, the effect of some inter- 
ference with the law of formation, growth, and enjoy- 
ment. The human soul must, then, be lovely in itself, 
since its spontaneous action, in association with happy 
minds, produces loveliness of form and deportment. The 
earliest expressions of intelligence and feeling in an infant, 
if not those of want, are those of pleasure, and in them- 
selves are of course pleasing. Tf, then, the body was 
formed to enable the soul to experience and exhibit affec- 
tions, — and these when healthy are always beauteous, 
— it is simply because the body and its circumstances 
are so far in keeping with the nature of the spirit that- 
animates it, and therefore a free and perfect manifesta- 
tion of that spirit, in whatever vehicle, must be signifi- 
cant only of what we are formed to admire. The body 
of a child, if not diseased, will continue to be beautiful 
in expression as long as the mind within it is kept in 
order by having its happier sympathies excited and ex- 
ercised by fellowship with minds that manifest nothing 
but what is amiable. Anger, wrath, malice, and all un- 
charitable ness, being manifested as they are by a single 
look, will instantly rouse the corresponding passions in a 
child, and these being frequently exhibited to it, will 
soon fix upon its features and its form the characteris- 
tics of fear and suspicion, and foster within its heart the 
fierce propensities that spring from them. 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT, 85 

The human soul seeks the face for sympathy, as if 
constituted for sociality only through that medium — the 
living telegraph of all that is felt within. So strong is 
this disposition to look into the features for fellowship, 
that even a blind man, when excited by the voice of a 
friend, seems to see the accompanying expression of his 
face. Those who have had opportunity for observing 
the attitude of an intelligent blind person, while in lively 
conversation with him, can testify to the force with which 
his features respond to every word. He seems to watch 
you with his sightless face, and to look through the whole 
of it into your eyes. Holman, the blind traveler, says, 
" When any one is conversing with me, I conceive my- 
self to see the expression of countenance as the words 
are pronounced, almost as if I actually saw it, and in 
ordinary cases, receive a similar kind of satisfaction." 
If the blind thus feel the presence of a face, how much 
more must children feel ? Their souls are always in 
their eyes ; they judge of every thing by sight. Who 
has not seen the infant weep when a loving face has 
been turned from it, or when a strange face has met its 
eye ? As our wills are according to our love, and we 
become like what we love, how important it is that child- 
hood should be familiar with happy and amiable faces. 
This observation may be illustrated by considering the 
difference in expression of countenance between those 
children who are trained amid benevolent and kindly at- 
tentions, and those who from birth are subjected to tyr- 
anny and neglect. Twin children would soon become 
vastly unlike each other if the one were watched and 
nurtured under the smiling tenderness of a happy Chris- 
tian mother, and the other left to the violent culture of 
a savage breast, or the affectionless and enforced atten- 
tions of a workhouse nurse, who from the burden of her 
own heart can never smile, or who, from habitual licen- 
tiousness and indulgence, gives vent to some burst of 



&(S MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

hideous passion in every look and every word. But, 
blessed be the mercy that still reigns on earth ! the heart 
of woman is usually governed by the " irresistible might 
of weakness," and she instinctively and from her inmost 
heart seeks to win the smile and love of infancy by 
soothing expressions of fondness and delight. If it were 
not thus, the childish mind would more frequently write 
upon the face the record of misery and disordered feel- 
ings. Might not mothers learn a good practical lesson 
from a fact mentioned by the sagacious traveler, Nicolai, 
who states that he saw the most divinely beautiful fe- 
male countenances among women who were most de- 
vout ? It may not be unimportant to observe, that the 
calm contemplation of loveliness where affection blends 
with adoration, as in the pictures of the blessed Virgin, 
seems to act most powerfully in tranquilizing and exalt- 
ing the features of those who thus sympathetically wor- 
ship a painting. Doubtless the apprehension of spiritual 
truth being absolute, the reflex of the Divine Mind would 
possess the mind with a more heavenly idea, and cor- 
respondingly transform the whole being, provided the 
soul be thus engaged while the living frame retains the 
plastic power peculiar to the period of growth. 

The operations of the causes referred to are witnessed 
on a large scale in the different nations of the world. 
Hence we find that the families of Central Asia, nursed 
in the cradle of civilization and morality, as first devel- 
oped under traditions derived directly from the first 
earthly family, have from that period been most beauti- 
ful in form and most excellent in intellect. Now, how- 
ever, since they have allowed the light which first 
shone upon them to be nearly extinguished, they are 
beginning to present more fully in their persons the 
characteristics of barbarized minds, and are rapidly fall- 
ing into the state of those tribes which have wandered 
most widely from the center of mental and moral illumi- 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 87 

nation, and have hence become more and more depraved 
in character and features, so that now they love their 
degradation well. There will most appear the outward 
beauty of humanity where the best qualities of human 
intellect and affection are most highly nurtured ; but 
Without a fostering encouragement, we look as vainly for 
loveliness of soul as for a blooming plant without the 
sunshine. 

The intellectual and moral improvement of man is 
not, however, proportional to the development of his 
body, since, without the impartation of knowledge, and 
the awakening of his affections by sociality with other 
minds, he may possess the finest form and yet be little 
better than an idiot, with propensities urging him like 
mere brutal instincts, while his faculties find not their 
appropriate objects ; and those attributes which are the 
prerogatives of cultivated humanity, like seeds in an arid 
soil, lie dormant in his soul, or, being artificially quick- 
ened, serve only to add intensity to his sensual impulses. 
Communion of mind is essential to education, but yet 
mental intercourse between individuals on the same level, 
as regards intelligence, must leave them still equal ; and 
the superiority of perception and of thought which dis- 
tinguishes one from the rest is only to be explained phil- 
osophically, in accordance with common language, that 
such and such an individual is more highly gifted. But 
what is implied in such a phrase ? It can mean only, 
that some power above has directly communicated ca- 
pacity and intelligence more freely to one than to another. 
The original idea of the everlasting history of each dif- 
fers from all others, and each human soul presents 
an individual manifestation, a reasonable being seeking 
to enjoy endless good in his own existence by means of 
other existences. Thus the unity of the Divine Mind 
is proved by infinite variety. One spirit evokes all har- 
mony, and none can say to another, there is no need of 



88 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

thee. Each has his own qualifications and a distinct 
place. Thus order is the mode of divine government, 
and is, in fact, itself the proof and presence of God's 
power. He is not far from any one of us, and we are 
bound to honor each other in the mutual acknowledg- 
ment of the endowments and appointments bestowed by 
Him ; for thus we see that Heaven is forever concerned 
with earth ; and we are approved of him, and are repre- 
sentatives of him, just in proportion as we find our hap- 
piness in benevolent cooperation, and submit ourselves in 
humility as fellow-servants of the same Master, minis- 
ters of Heaven, each in his own office, but yet serving 
one another. 

The more closely we examine society, the more clearly 
we discover the mutual dependence of the different parts 
of the human family ; and the more we scrutinize the 
physiology of man, the more thoroughly shall we be 
convinced that the laws of conscience and of conduct, 
summed up in one word — love, are in accordance with 
the laws of bodily development and of universal nature. 
The development of the body in a natural or normal 
manner, under proper associations, induces the gradual 
manifestation of new or enlarged mental capacities. 
New states of organization and functions produce new 
sensations, which, acting on the ever susceptible mind, 
always governed by a power that causes it to seek fel- 
lowship with personal beings and bodily objects of af- 
fection, excite new sentiments ; and these, again, act as 
excitants to the mental faculties; and hence the finest 
feelings are usually, perhaps always, associated with the 
finest intellect, and the love of truth with the love of good- 
ness. Knowingness is the opposite of wisdom. Showy 
minds are insincere, strong ones never; for these found 
their reason and their conduct on felt truth. Thus we 
find, that under right tuition — that is, under the kindly 
fostering of social intelligence and affection, which of 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 89 

course includes religion — the mind, in all its wondrous 
endowments, is steadily manifested by degrees, accord- 
ing to the regular laws of healthy progression in growth 
and maturation of the body, and that not in capacity 
of attending to facts only, but also in respect to moral 
discrimination. And here, before we extend our views 
of the stages of life, we may learn a surprising les- 
son, by reflecting a little on the positive evidence we 
possess, that the percipient and thinking being is capable 
of still further and more wonderful manifestation under 
the stimulus of morbid peculiarities of nervous and other 
organic condition. Thus, in some acute diseases, the 
intellectual faculties often suddenly evince themselves 
in so marvelous a manner, that many persons have en- 
deavored to account for the phenomena by supposing 
supernatural interpositions. 

As Cabanis observes, " sometimes the organs of sense 
become sensible of impressions foreign to the nature of 
man. There are some who easily distinguish micro- 
scopic objects with the naked eye, others who see suffi- 
ciently clear in the most profound darkness to guide 
themselves with confidence. There are those who fol- 
low persons by their track, like a dog, and recognize by 
the scent the objects which these persons have used, or 
which they have only touched. I have seen those in 
whom the taste had acquired a peculiar delicacy, and 
who desired or knew how to choose the food and even 
the remedies which appeared really useful to them. We 
see others who are in a state to perceive in themselves, 
during the time of their paroxysms, either certain crises 
which are preparing, and of which the termination 
proves soon after the justness of their sensations, or other 
organic modifications attested by those of the pulse, and 
by other signs still more certain." The statement ot 
such a witness will scarcely need attestation, but we may 
confidently refer to the multitude of instances recordod 



90 MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 

by men of sufficient sagacity and truthfulness in confir- 
mation of the fact, that the human mind may be mani- 
fested in an exalted manner under certain conditions of 
the nervous system induced by mental determination, 
and perhaps by the concentration, to particular parts, of 
that subtile fluid which pervades the body, for asserting 
the existence of which, Mesmer and his disciples have 
been so unphilosophically ridiculed. The inductive exper- 
iments of Baron von Reichenbach leave us now but little 
room to doubt that animal magnetism is a natural truth, 
of great value and importance to society, notwithstanding 
the egregious extravagances of fancy which have disfig- 
ured its history as a science. When we consider that 
intellect is modified by matter, and that the soul employs 
machinery to obtain sensation, and to exercise will, we 
shall not be surprised to find that changes in the state 
of the instrumentality alter the mode of manifesting 
faculty. The sentient principle is governed by laws 
which are, to some extent, coordinate with those of or- 
ganization. Thus the number of ideas at any time ca- 
pable of being reproduced to our consciousness seems to 
depend on the state of the body at the time, and every 
change in the condition of the brain is accompanied by 
a corresponding change in the visions of the mind. Yet 
forge tfuln ess and recollection are not random results, 
but consequences of the plan of God, in which we are 
constituted to lose sight of one part of our knowledge, 
and to remember another according to the circu instances 
in which our bodies may be placed, so that we may act 
in keeping with our position. If it w T ere not thus, we 
should always be in danger of insanity, or, by pursuing 
ideas irrespective of present objects, pass our lives in 
unsocial or unobservant abstractedness of spirit. 

Alterations of bodily condition only change the direc- 
tion of the percipient soul, the qualities of which remain 
the same, whatever its state of accommodation ; for all 



MATERIALISM AND DEVELOPMENT. 91 

the faculties exist in all states alike, and only require to 
be put in proper relation to objects to be manifested ac- 
cordingly. The very fact that we are liable to vast 
changes of condition, and yet continue the same beings, 
subject still to hopes and fears, pains and pleasures, of 
the same essential character, is a proof that we are some- 
thing more than living machines and locomotives. A just 
view of preceding facts will prove that a person who 
habitually acts conscientiously, will, in proportion to his 
intellectual refinement, be best able to detect erroneous 
principles, for such a one perceives truth as if intuitive- 
ly, and scarcely tolerates the tardy ratiocination by which 
the majority wait to be persuaded. But such a charac- 
ter is not the spontaneous production of nature, for the 
disposition to obey God arises only from the entrance ol 
the divine logos, which imparts its own light to the 
simplest understanding, and enables the soul thus ren- 
dered truly great, to 

" Dart forward on the wing 
Of just ambition, to the grand result." 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 



Mankind spring not up full-formed, and quite equip- 
ped for battling with adversity, like the fabled army from 
the teeth of dragons sown by Cadmus, but like the seed 
which is scattered from the hand of trod over all the 
earth. The germ of each man is imbued with the 
power of an indwelling life, fostered by the genial influ- 
ence of Heaven, and superintended by the might that 
made it. Thus it expands into bloom and maturity, a 
being fit for fellowship with Eternal Intelligence. As 
the plant has its periods of growth, completion, and de- 
cay, so have we the spring, summer, autumn, and win- 
ter of earthly existence ; but the analogy holds no further 
than as relates to the successive stages of bodily being. - 
The gradations of the moral being, though following an 
order, for the most part, in beautiful correspondence 
with the seasons of life, are proportioned in their pro- 
gression rather to the amount of appropriate sensibility 
elicited from the soul by the sweet socialities of relation- 
ship and kindliness, than to the degrees of physical de- 
velopment. The infant smiles in response to the visible 
love of its mother's heart long before the struggling will 
meets the disappointment that engenders tears. The 
earliest expression of the spirit, fresh from its Maker's 
hand, is of needy dependence on his power, but at the 
same time speaking of the love that formed it, and thus 
assuring the vigilant heart of affection, that as parental 
solicitude and infantine dependence mutually and natu- 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 93 

rally seek and create hope and joy, so the God of families 
will truly bless confiding and loving spirits. The faith of 
the child accords with the feebleness of its body and the 
experiences of its mind. Thus we learn from what we 
feel to trust that charity which inspires the maternal 
bosom, and to regard the affection which we feel, as an 
unquestionable evidence that the Almighty Parent loves 
beyond the conception even of a mother's heart. And 
the utterly incapable little one, as yet without a con- 
science, unfit for any thing but to demonstrate the force 
of feebleness, prevails to manifest the same delightful 
fact, and to teach us, with a sensible argument, the same 
sublime and lovely lesson — namely, that He who is om- 
nipotent to produce is omnipotent to sustain, and thus, by 
simple, confiding, trusting weakness on the one side, and 
unfailing, unbounded affection on the other, to reveal 
within us how God embraces all his creatures with an 
infinite love. This power of loving, natural and super- 
natural, is the spirit of prophecy in every human and 
affectionate breast, and it tells us never to despond, but, 
in spite of clouds and darkness, to believe in constant 
light, and, notwithstanding ever present evil, to expect 
eternal good. If the instruction acquired by the study 
of infancy and its demands direct us forward as it ought, 
we shall discern indications of the same benevolent pur- 
pose in all the stages of life. It is true, that the work 
of the Almighty seems often to be frustrated ; the sin- 
less babe, the eager boy, the hopeful youth, the ener- 
getic man, are often abruptly snatched away, and seem- 
ingly not allowed here to answer any sufficient end of 
existence. Death meets human beings at the entrance 
of life, and breathes upon them as he passes, and to 
earth they perish. The purpose of mind and develop- 
ment appears disappointed, as if from defect of means, 
or deficiency of power, to accomplish it. But impious 
in its ignorance must be the mind that thus concludes. 



94 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

Are we not taught by these apparent failures, that Al- 
mightiness has other dispensations and other worlds 
connected with this, but still in reserve, when and 
where to reconcile his permission with his power, and 
to satisfy our craving reason with a full revelation of His 
glory, as the accomplisher of what we in our faithless- 
ness had deemed impossible ? Let us wait, then, for the 
explanation of enigmas which we can not solve, and con- 
tent ourselves with the facts that discourse to us so 
plainly of divine gentleness and favor, in the might that 
constitutes the child, and actually takes it by the hand, 
plays with its tiny, restless fingers, looks into its eyes, 
awakes its emotions of trustfulness and gratitude, presses 
it to the heart, dandles it on the knees, and leads it along 
with the tender help and encouragement of a mother's 
touch. Thus the Deity himself is revealed to us. 

If we would avoid injuring a soul, we must treat 
the body with tenderness and wisdom. A young child 
is a newly created spirit, introduced into this amazing 
world for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of mate- 
rial things and of sentient beings, by contact and sym- 
pathy. It is utterly ignorant; but, unless the brain and 
senses be defective, it possesses, and by degrees can ex- 
ercise, all the mental qualities of a philosopher, gradu- 
ally becoming acquainted with the properties of objects, 
both of thought and sense, by observation and experi- 
ment. All the faculties of childhood are busily at work 
as fast as they are developed, and every propensity is 
ardently seeking for indulgence. Propensity, in short, 
is a bodily provocation to action ; and the soul must 
yield to it, if it knows not any better means of pleasure ; 
for the soul always does, and always must, aim at en- 
joyment. But that is properly found only in a suitable 
use of the body — a use for spiritual ends. Almighty 
benevolence has formed the body for happiness when 
rightly employed ; and the means of that employment 






THE STAGES OF LIFE. 95 

must be provided, or activity becomes a constant per- 
version of power, and therefore a constant source of un- 
easiness. But as human individualism is a type of De- 
ity, its perfection, its full capacity for happiness, is only 
found in goodness and love ; therefore it never can rest 
satisfied with its knowledge till all creation is completely 
harmonious and happy. The pure enjoyment of a hu- 
man being is now derived through the senses, by which 
alone it obtains proof that it is in its proper place, with 
regard to others and its own convenience ; therefore its 
senses must be cultivated, that it may find, through a 
bodily correspondence, the fellowship it needs with other 
human beings and with nature. A child, with all its 
senses perfect, requires only instruction and sympathy 
to complete its education. But what a fullness of mean- 
ing lies in the word education : the leading out of an 
immortal being to the fulfillment of its proper desires ; 
the directing, by moral governance, all the faculties, 
affections, and propensities to right objects, including, of 
course, the due exercise of the organization subservient 
to them. Who is sufficient for the vast undertaking ? 
Nil desperandum. God and man are both engaged in 
it; therefore try, and you will succeed. The mother's 
heart and the father's heart are ready for the task, as 
soon as they are themselves under heavenly tuition, and 
not till then. What they want is what their children 
want — divine light, right motives, and a suitable sphere 
of action. The Word of God and his works are open 
before us, and these contain all that can be taught either 
by us or by angels, and we shall not fail rightly to im- 
part our knowledge of them if we feel aright ; for then 
action will speak, and our example will illustrate our 
precepts, and our very bodies be the means of bringing 
the minds of our children, through a vital sympathy, 
into moral relation to ourselves. Imitation will impress 
moral principles as habits upon the nerves of our chil- 



96. THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

dren, if they see in us the beauty of true affection and 
true governing wisdom, which they can not do unless we 
prove ourselves conscious of duty and obedience to a 
holy will. The royal law still holds good. Let each 
man and each woman who has to do with children, im- 
agine the circumstances of each child, and then let just 
that intense love, and tenderness, and patience, and firm- 
ness, be shown, in guiding and blessiDg the little one, 
that each would desire for himself, under divine and 
human management, in the like case. This is the 
whole secret of correcr education, and therefore real 
Christians alone are fit to carry it out ; and this they 
must do according to the terms of the new covenant, as 
far as each one may be able. God speed and encour- 
agement, are the Christian's watchwords ; Charity con- 
ceals faults, is his motto ; and this signifies that encour- 
agement afforded to every good disposition, will at last 
triumph over every evil in the establishment of every 
moral excellence ; because true love is God working in 
us to restore his own image in our spirits. This is the 
end of the education which he sanctions, and no other 
is fit for man. The fire and smoke of terrorism are 
quenched by the light of Christianity. Jews and heath- 
ens may retain threatening and corporeal punishments ; 
but these methods of persecution keep men Jews and 
heathens. We have a power above them, and we ought 
to show it. Love animates, fear paralyzes ; love is 
mightier than earthquake in stirring up the soul to strong 
and enduring effort. It never fails. The highest class 
of heroes are trained by Charity ; because she is the 
most determined of all teachers, and can not despair 
God disciplined his followers into men indomitable in 
truth, by showing them his gushing heart. It is open 
to us. We see that love, truth, and wisdom are united 
there, and the doctrine which flows from it is gentle as 
light, and as mighty. The rod does not impart princi- 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 97 

pies, but Truth does ; and she is severe enouga, since 
she will not suffer a wrong unrepented of to go uncor- 
rected, but she makes the instructed soul correct itself 
oy appeals to right affections, and thus she never fails 
to lead her pupils to a happier position by promoting in- 
timacy with God in all his works. 

The education that does not assist to invigorate the 
body is injurious, and all that favors continued inaction 
fosters idleness and debility. The young child has a 
nervous system at least five times larger, in proportion 
to its body, than the adult. Hence the restlessness and 
animation of childhood, its quick exhaustion, and ready 
recovery, its power to bear rapid and varied movements, 
and its intolerance of monotony. If we do not consider 
this nervous constitution in training children, we shall 
do violence to Heaven's laws, and inflict injury on them 
with woe to ourselves. Well conducted mental train-,' 
ing invariably favors the better development of the body, 
and, by strengthening the nervous system, tends to ren- 
der all the vital functions more vigorous and regular. 
As the mind not steadily and determinately employed, 
fails to stir up the bodily energies, it of course allows a 
corporeal indolence which confirms its own listlessness, 
and at length causes both mental and physical effort to 
become alike difficult, awkward, clownish, and heavy. 
The mind hopefully and outwardly busy affords the 
healthiest stimulus to the brain; but the soul without 
sufficient motive, and left to the desultory impulses of 
ignorance and accident, is always either violently agita- 
ted or corruptly stagnant. 

In boyhood and in girlhood germinate those sympa- 
thies which ripen into the reciprocities which constitute 
the charm of society, and confer all that is excellent in 
manly or in feminine virtue and dignity. In childhood 
the expanding heart importunately demands kindness, 
and is as ready to communicate as to receive, according 
7 



98 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

to its ability and understanding. But on advancing a 
little further into life, the feeling of new necessities, and 
the general aspect of others toward us, force upon the 
will a felt propriety of standing more independently of 
parental guardianship. The possession of more bodily 
power gives us the desire to exert it for ourselves. The 
pride and emulation that properly urge us to obtain 
what is acknowledged to be valuable, now stimulate our 
efforts. This is the turning point of life. According 
to the direction now taken, is our intellectual and moral 
destiny on earth generally determined. The ideas, at 
this period presented, modify and color all the future, 
because the sensibilities of the body are at the height of 
fervent intensity, the senses keenest, the brain most im- 
pressible, and the vital energies most ready to incorpo- 
rate impressions ; and hence the soul is most alive to the 
conduct of others, and is most ready to sympathize 
with nature in every aspect. Hence, as Juvenal says, 
"Maxima debetur imero reverential 

In the transition from the state of affectionate obe- 
dience to that of comparative self-reliance, the sense of . 
social kindness is most powerful, and the effects of evil 
example and of tyrannical rule most mischievous ; for 
then, if the reasoning faculties and human instincts have 
been duly trained by domestic discipline, the heart be- 
comes more alive to those emotions which magnify the 
interests of life, and a higher state of development occa- 
sions greater vigor of function, and new sensations sug- 
gest a multitude of new ideas; existence seems sud- 
denly expanding, and the young being feels conscious of 
demands upon his intellect which his experience does 
not enable him to meet; he compares himself with 
others, and then modesty and diffidence kindle the blush, 
and awaken the soul to doubt and apprehension, lest its 
desires, sentiments, and endeavors should be misinter- 
preted, and meet with derision when most demanding 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 99 

sympathy and assistance. Then commences the period 
of true temptation and of danger; the informed soul 
struggles for mastery over the body, and conscience is at 
war with instinct. If the ingenuous spirit be not now 
met with Christian encouragements and admonitions, 
the bashful youth may be driven to desperate expe- 
dients to subdue his excessive sensibilities ; and finding 
the inconvenience of being more timidly sensitive than 
those about him, he may, as if from a necessary determ- 
ination, rush for relief into the opposite extreme of bold- 
ness and effrontery. 

It is astonishing how early this spirit of bravado 
springs forth in acute and intelligent children, whose 
sensibilities have been suddenly placed in opposite states. 
Thus the pale and shy brother and sister who wept 
with a widowed mother in her honest and hard struggles 
against a crushing and unaccustomed poverty, being left 
by her death with none to love but each other, and then 
singly exposed to the ruffianism of matured vice in every 
form which the crowded union-house can afford, naturally 
learn to hate all that cold kind of charity which they 
witness ; and usually finding thieves and prostitutes with 
more heart, and, perhaps, less hypocrisy than their 
public guardians, they are readily won to side with those 
outcasts against their better knowledge, and every now 
and then astonish us by precocious feats of hardy vicious- 
ness. Thus a youth, in the heyday of his warm blood, 
meeting no heart established by true affections to sustain 
and direct his love of approbation in an honorable and 
happy manner, tries to setup for himself with a prema- 
ture and ignorant defiance. Thus he quickly falls a 
victim to the selfish delusions of vice, since, without the 
pleasant guidance of sympathizing friendship, he seeks 
fellowship with the friendless, or even with the deprav- 
ed, as the only refuge left him from blighting, dreary 
solitude. By the very constitution of his body and sou], 



100 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

he must associate ; the crowding fancies of his mind, 
and all the tendencies working in his physical frame, 
compel him to live outwardly with others, or else to droop 
and despair under that burden of self which either breaks 
the heart or maddens the brain. 

Self-abandonment is the misery nearest to self-mur- 
der. Our nature must be selfish until taught by sym- 
pathy the loveliness and delights of generous affections ; 
and these we must witness in others before w r e can feel 
to the full in ourselves. Why then should w T e wonder 
to see children of the shrewdest intellect and most sus- 
ceptible forms, beautiful even in depravity, the readiest 
and deepest in guilt when left only to the sympathies 
of incarnate demons ? Men and women, fathers and 
mothers, brothers and sisters, your hearts are demanded 
by the outcast and the abandoned ! And if you feel as 
you ought, the necessities of sensitive childhood and 
youth, not merely in your homes and among yourselves, 
but in vile places, where the messengers of heaven should 
visit, much of the now prevalent depravity of the social 
system would be cured, more would be prevented, and 
many a determined, manly heart, many a sweetly fem- 
inine bosom, would be opened, and governed by the in- 
spiring truths with Jesus taught. If you would be 
mighty, be kind. Why is kindness full of power ? 
Because it is happy, and makes happy. It assures us 
that we are not alone ; it takes possession of the body 
with all its springs of nervous energy, heals the wounds 
of the spirit, and thereby imparts new vigor and 
warmth to the current of life. It reanimates innocent 
dead hopes, and draws us from selfish purpose to a high 
kind of self-abandonment, by causing us to prefer the 
disposition we see in others to what w r e experience in 
ourselves, and puts us in felt bodily relationship with 
those who are governed by a fine faith in the goodness 
of Omnipotence. The beautiful old word, kindness, 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 101 

means something like family feeling, kin, kind, kindred, 
kindness ; the home spirit is in it, and brings back to our 
memory the mother's heart and the infant's trustfulness. 
Let all the angels of heaven go out to reclaim a degrad- 
ed man, they will avail nothing unless they can approach 
him in the human form of kindness, visibly embodied 
in like nature to his own. They must draw him from 
solitude by manifest sympathy, not that of sorrow only, 
but of fellow-feeling, even to the evidence of having also 
been tempted like himself. He can respond only to one 
who knows experimentally the urgent demands of the 
body, and in it has felt the struggle and the strife with 
Satan, sin, and death, and in it conquered them. He 
must learn by looking on an example, that it is God and 
not man that triumphs over evil. He must know how 
the Father pities the prodigal, weary of his lusts ; and 
God himself must meet man as man before He reveals 
His divinity by bidding man believe in love, and sin no 
more. Therefore, be kind. 

Christians in this land of parishes, where is the proof 
that you deem children heirs of immortality, and the 
special charge of the church ? Remember that the soul 
of man and woman, when left to the working of untaught 
nature, must ripen into desolation and misery. And it 
is in early youth that your most strenuous efforts are 
most demanded, and most effectual. If the attention be 
not then duly employed on suitable objects, which the 
wise alone can present in their true shape and color, 
the mind will fix itself upon the body, and either a mor- 
bid consciousness will spring up in the place of happier 
activity, or else sensual propensities will speedily en- 
trance the captive and ignorant soul, and fling a spell 
over all its powers, not to be broken but by a miracle of 
divine interference to restore it from the ruin which the 
godly discipline of Christian institutes was intended to 
prevent. The youthful body must be engaged in Chris 



102 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

tian business, in order that the habit of right feeling and 
thinking may be established in the soul. Christianity 
agrees with the body as well as with the mind, and it 
alone is the spiritual system of morals, for it is a word 
seen, felt, and handled through the sensibilities, and, so 
to say, in the very functions and framework of the body, 
in the child, and on through the stirring period of boy- 
hood and youth and maturity, preserving thus the un- 
selfish affections in the vigor of faith, amid the struggling 
urgencies of earthly life. Without it, corporeal strength 
will but impart ungovernable force to evil. Unless the 
soul be all along accustomed to the precept and example, 
and the active associations of those who control them- 
selves for the benefit of others, it is impossible that 
teaching should subdue the tendencies and propensities 
of the body, so as to render them stimulants to spiritual 
improvement, and qualify the soul to use the senses 
merely as instruments for acquiring knowledge and en- 
joying the happiness of truth. If we would feel aright, 
we must come into sympathy with those who are right; 
we must enjoy communion with human excellence man- 
ifested in a well governed body, that, being infected by 
the visible happiness of others, our own will may be sub- 
dued and brought into healthy action. 

It is when the frame and spirit are all alive to the 
vivid beauties of nature that kindly associations tend 
to fix indelibly and practically upon the memory a feel- 
ing of God's benevolence seen everywhere ; and then, 
too, the beauty of holiness is felt to be an attribute 
of the Creator. Then the tender heart learns the 
poetry of life, the thought of which " breeds perpet- 
ual benedictions," and faith is nourished with angel's 
food: 

" The truths that wake 
To perish never ; 
Which neither listlessness nor mad endeavor, 






THE STAGES OF LIFE. 103 

Nor man, nor boy, 
Nor all that is at enmity with joy, 
Can utterly abolish or destroy/' 

This kind of poetiy is better than logic ; it is intuitive 
truth, and therefore essentially related to religion. It 
adds a grace to the generous impulses that belong to 
youth, and sustains the imagination in a devout desire 
for a still more beauteous dwelling-place, where it may 
enjoy the fulfillment of its prophecies. 

A consideration of the influence of sex on the forma- 
tion of ideas and of habits, will abundantly instruct us 
concerning the development of mental character in cer- 
tain dependences on the condition and peculiarity of the 
body. But in this place it will suffice to observe, that 
both sexes are equally indebted to the divine wisdom 
which devised the plan of teaching us ideas by degrees, 
and in different stages of corporeal advancement, so that 
we may grow up into the most wonderful knowledge 
without the surprise and confusion that would otherwise 
result from the crowding of sensations into a sudden ma- 
turity. Woe to those who regard even the merely sens- 
ual relations of sex in a profane manner ! Not to feel 
the holy beauty of God's purpose in the respective en- 
dowments of male and female with respect to love and 
truth, life and religion, is to prove insensible to that 
sublimest evidence of divine adaptation, pure conjugal 
union, and the perpetuation of the grand mystery of 
existence, the multiplication of immortal beings through 
bodily relationship. The light of the soul will soon be 
quenched in darkest sin, if the personal attractiveness of 
sex serve only to arouse fond sentimentalisms, or to feed 
the flame of torment for the base sensualist. 

We form ideas before we reason, and delight in the 
use of sense before we learn the properties of material 
things. Ere the mind can speculate we enjoy creation 
in all its attributes, and thus the Almighty implants 



104 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

within ns a conviction of reality, not because we first 
think and then perceive, but because we see, we hear, 
we taste, we feel, and, by an intuitive faculty and a spir- 
itual inspiration, each image, each impression received 
by sense, is inexplicably associated, and that perpetually, 
with some external thing; and thus the wonders of the 
world we inhabit are gradually reflected from within us, 
and an ideal universe is created, amid the marvels of 
which the rational spirit expatiates forever. 

Each stage of life prepares for succeeding stages, and 
each, when properly conducted, enjoys a new happiness, 
without necessarily losing the peculiar enjoyments of the 
past ; for our existence is enlarged by addition rather than 
expansion ; and the man of years may still delight with 
childlike freshness in the objects of creation, not merely 
from their novelty or fitness to his senses, but also be- 
cause they all convey a fullness of meaning which ex- 
perience has taught him partly to interpret. 

The stages of bodily development follow a regular 
progression up to maturity. Infancy, childhood, ado- 
lescence, youth, manhood, are marked by sufficient dis- 
tinctions, and the period of one is seldom considerably 
prolonged into that of another. Whatever causes the 
arrest of general development tends also to abbreviate 
life ; and, perhaps, the chief cause of so much mortality 
in its earlier periods may be attributed rather to the ab- 
sence of those means of natural enjoyment which favor 
the powerful growth of the organs, than to any peculiar 
liability to disease. 

The vital resistance to malady is remarkable in child- 
hood ; but the habits of adults, in great towns especially, 
being so thoroughly unnatural, poverty with excess of 
labor oppressing the parental heart on the one hand, and 
the prevalence of ignorance and vice depraving it on the 
other, it is scarcely to be wondered at that the proper 
demands of infancy should be so little understood or at- 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 105 

tended to, that one fourth of the deaths among children 
occurs under one year of age ; one third under two 
years ; and considerably more than half under five years 
of age. 

Happiness is health. So strong is the faculty of en- 
joyment in every stage of our life, that every individual 
in a healthy state, with suitable objects of attention and 
motives for action, is naturally happy. But, alas ! if 
health is happiness, few indeed possess it. Whatever 
impairs the means of sober enjoyment, so far impairs the 
functions of the body ; and therefore, as in the clash of 
opposing wills, men's minds jar with each other, while 
maintaining individual interests, the general good is too 
often sacrificed, and both happiness and health are immo- 
lated on the altars of Mammon and of Moloch. Would 
that men could be instructed everywhere to feel that 
their interests are mutual, and that, if they would sub- 
mit cheerfully to the claims of brotherhood and charity, 
every period of life would embosom its appropriate joys ; 
and death, which is the degradation of man, would not 
so often be invoked by the weary mother as she gazes in 
tearless agony on her suffering child. It is the helpless 
and uncomplaining weak against whom the selfish strong 
are at war. The brutal law of government by might, 
which causes the herd to butt to death those that are too 
feeble to defend themselves, is operating also among hu- 
man beings. This is the very spirit which Christianity 
is to destroy ; and blessed will be our land when her in- 
stitutions, conceived as they generally are in this spirit, 
shall be carried out in its power; for then the highest 
law, that which rules in heaven, shall conquer by kind- 
ness, and bring society so completely into subjection, that, 
itme and opportunity being commanded, the plan of God 
in social and individual development shall be fully seen, 
in health and happiness, religion and piety, established 
through all generations. 



106 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

In the present order of things, where so much imped- 
iment to what we know of divine calling and purpose so 
evidently exists, it is still delightful to find innumerable 
traces of the benevolent Creator's hand evolving good out 
of evil. Whatever renders life undesirable, so far tends to 
shorten it. Thus longevity is a positive blessing, because it 
indicates that the mind has not been so directly distressed 
as materially to interfere with physical enjoyment. Men- 
tal comfort and physical well-being must combine, in or- 
der that an individual should attain the utmost duration 
of earthly life. Whatever deprives us of suitable pleas- 
ures in childhood, leads speedily to death or to idiocy ; 
and in maturer life, hastens on decrepitude, which, when 
once established, allows no restoration to vigor. But the 
period between the maturity of power and its final decay 
may, with proportionate activity, be vastly prolonged. 
Tndeed, the extent to which the compensating powers of 
ife may, during perfect manhood, tend to preserve the 
balance, has never been fully proved. The numerous in- 
stances on record of great longevity indicate a tendency in 
nature to a constant renovation. In the patriarchal ages, 
when neither the body nor the mind were subjected to un- . 
natural excitation, the period of three score years and ten 
was attained with scarcely the slightest diminution of the 
buoyancy and vigor of matured manhood ; and instances 
are not wanting among ourselves to show that the men- 
tal faculties may be in high and vigorous exercise far be- 
yond the climacteric epoch. 

From these facts we learn, that although there are 
definite periods of transition from infancy to age, yet the 
passage of the perfect man into drooping senility does 
not exactly follow the same law of progress, and that he 
who is a ripened man at thirty is not necessarily a de- 
caying old man at seventy. The reason why there is 
this possibility of prolongation will appear, when we re- 
flect that the preceding periods or stages of life are but 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 107 

preparatory to the grand purpose of man's animal exist- 
ence — namely, the formation of mental character, and 
the production and training of offspring. These great 
objects, the greatest of earth, could not have been prop- 
erly accomplished, unless the parent continued in the 
possession of much mental energy and physical power 
long after the mother ceased to bear children. It is after 
this period that the parental judgment is at the acme of 
tried experience, and is most demanded to influence and 
control the expanding energies of their offspring. Now 
the staid man speaks with the authority of that inwrought 
knowledge, that approved power, which secures the at- 
tention and respect or reverence of all who are sedate 
enough to desire wisdom, whether in the social circle or 
in the arenas of political or religious contention ; for so- 
ciety is governed well only when the sobriety of ma- 
ture experience qualifies the ardency and eagerness of 
youthful aspiration. This union of zeal and knowledge 
preserves the equipoise of society. Thus theoretic 
enthusiasm is required to become practical, the novel 
statesman to prove his claims to be called a patriot, the 
fanatic to show his reasons, and the pious zealot to in- 
dicate in his own character what he means by calling him- 
self a saint. 

The wisest and best productions of human intellect 
have proceeded from those who have lived through the 
bustling morning and meridian periods of their day, and 
calmly sat down to think and instruct others in the medi- 
tative evening of life. Even when the brilliancy of rea- 
son's sunset yields to the advancing gloom, there is an 
indescribable beauty haunting the old man still, if in youth 
and vigor his soul was conversant with truth ; and even 
when the chill of night is upon him, his eye seems to rest 
upon the glories for awhile departed, or looks ofFinto the 
stars, and reads in them his destiny with a gladness as quiet 
and as holy as their light. When our little day is folded 



108 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

up in shadows, the darkness must be deep indeed which 
does not reveal eternity by the rays of light that reach 
us from afar ; but the soul that can rise above the clouds 
of earth, can always behold the infinity of heaven, and 
perhaps every rightly taught man, before God takes him, 
ascends to a Pisgah of his own, from whence to look fare- 
well to the wilderness he has passed in the leadings of 
Jehovah's right hand, and to catch a glimpse of the prom- 
ised land lying in the everlasting orient before him. 

How instructive is the usual state of memory and hope 
in advanced life ! As the senses become dull, the nervous 
system slow, and the whole body unfit for active uses, 
the old man necessarily falls into a constant abstraction. 
Like all debilitated persons, he feels his unfitness for 
action, and, of course, becomes querulous, if improperly 
excited. Peacefulness, gentle exercise among flowers 
and trees, unstimulating diet, and the quiet company of 
books and philosophic toys, are suitable for him. With 
such helps, his heart will beat kindly, and his intellect, 
however childlike, will maintain a beautiful power to the 
last. Objects of affection occasionally move him with 
more than their accustomed fi rce. Young children are 
especially agreeable to him. When approaching him with 
the gentle love and reverence which unspoiled childhood 
is so apt to exhibit, his heart seems suddenly to kindle 
as the little fingers wander over his shriveled hand and 
wrinkled brow. He smiles, and at once goes back in 
spirit to his childhood, and finds a world of fun, frolic, 
and loveliness all alive before him, and he has tales of joy 
and beauty which children and age and holy beings can 
best appreciate. Next to the children of his children, 
the old man, whose thoughts have been directed by the 
Bible, loves the society of persons of holy habits, and as 
he finds these more frequently among females, such are 
generally his associates. But all aged and infirm persons 
he deems fit company, because they, like himself, are 



THE STAGES OF LIFE. 109 

busied in reviewing past impressions rather than plan- 
ning and plotting for a livelihood, or reasoning about ways 
and means. The past is his own, and he cons it over 
like a puzzling but yet an interesting lesson. If his soul 
have been trained to delight in truth, his will becomes 
weaned from this world of effort in proportion as he feels 
the weakness that disqualifies him from struggling on in 
it. Yet in the ashes lives the wonted fire : he feels an in- 
ternal, a spiritual energy, awakening in a new manner 
the sympathies that belong to his being, and he feels as if 
his affections had been laid by to ripen into an intensity out 
of keeping with the usages and objects about him. He 
realizes most fully the fact of a coming life, and even now 
lives apart from the present ; and if his habits of reflec- 
tion be not distracted, and his heart broken by hard and 
ignorant treatment, and if his soul have not been wedded 
to care by a love of gold without the possibility of divorce, 
and Mammon have not branded his spirit with indelible 
misery, then is the old man ready to enter on a purely 
spiritual existence with alacrity and joy. If his employ- 
ments now suit the state of his body, his feelings and his 
thoughts are already accordant with a better world. His 
memory and will are in general so occupied by merely 
mental objects, as to convince him, as if with the force of a 
sensible demonstration, of the reality of things beyond the 
scope of sense. 

But it is not the aged only who thus live in memory 
and imagination ; all who from weakness or physical dis- 
order are unable to exercise the senses energetically, 
are employed in the business of reflection or of retro- 
spection, from which, of course, fancy commonly still 
travels on in company with hope. The past and the 
future are linked by the spirit almost without perception 
of the present, or rather they are all one to the soul, for 
it thinks and feels not in tenses, but in moods. And 
does not this experience prove a design concerning man 



110 THE STAGES OF LIFE. 

beyond this life ? The might of our Maker is not the 
mere play of Omnipotence. The impartation of a power 
within us to register the past, to examine the record, 
and to draw from it motives and desires for the future, 
surely indicates that the Creator of our minds anticipates 
our exigences, and prepares for our spirits an appro- 
priate abode. Thus, when disqualified for this outward 
world, we retire to the inner one of ideas, and are at 
once ready for another life. And as we now turn m an 
instant from things to thoughts, as unconcernedly as an 
infant sleeps, so will our great change come, in the 
twinkling of an eye, complete without surprise. If all 
end here, we dare not say we discern the wisdom or 
the love of the arrangements we experience ; but with 
the understanding that the soul lives on, through and 
beyond all scath and decay of the body, and enters on 
enjoyments hereafter which are built upon the basis of 
the past, reason is satisfied with the good hope, and waits 
in patience for the true fulfillment of all ordinances, con- 
vinced that beauty and bliss in the creature are essential 
to the full revelation of the incommunicable attributes of 
the Creator. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

Perception is a power of the soul which, while con- 
nected with the body, requires a certain arrangement 
of matter in organized and living forms fitted to the ob- 
jects that, through them, become the causes of sensation. 
The structures adapted to this end are called organs of 
sense. By these we are put in relation to material things, 
as to their qualities of color, sound, odor, weight, resist- 
ance, and all that we learn of time and space by contact 
with matter. Unless we are to conclude that our Maker 
has constructed our senses to deceive us, we must believe 
that the impressions received by them while in a sound 
state, and interpreted by the intellect naturally excited by 
their use, are real and true indications of real and true ob- 
jects. If the theory of ideas which transcendental philos- 
ophy is now so intent upon urging upon our credence, is to 
supersede the common intelligence of our senses, as to 
the qualities and positive existence of things, the language 
of nature and revelation must be rectified, since both at 
present only tend to perpetuate mistake and confirm 
the error which induced the first man to impose names 
on creatures according to what he perceived of their 
properties. The vocabularies of science and of common 
sense must be reconstructed ; not, however, according to 
the consent of those who agreed to adopt them as they 
are, but just as may suit the ideality of each individual. 
Thus each one will build his own Babel, and experience 
a confusion of words and meanings in his own mind 



112 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

worse than that which caused the dispersion of nan 
kind. 

It is by the reality of objects, or by our universal faith 
in their reality, that society is held together. From 
mutual understanding, we acquire the means of commu- 
nicating with each other. Light is the same thing to 
others as to ourselves. Those who are blessed with 
eyesight, and have learned to use it, can enjoy the many 
appearances of radiance and beauty with which the sun- 
shine clothes the heavens and the earth ; and, happily, 
they are in no danger of supposing that what they 
behold is nothing but the creation of their own ima- 
ginations. It is true, indeed, that the soul forms its 
own conceptions ; and the material world might as well 
have never existed, had there not been spiritual beings 
constituted to behold it. But as surely as there are 
persons to perceive objects, so surely are there objects 
to be perceived ; and the very fact of consciousness is a 
proof of the existence both of a percipient being and of 
real objects of perception. The evidence on which I 
believe that I am, is the same as that on which I believe 
that others are. Idealism, rationalism, neology, and all 
other transcendentalisms are but the more mysterious 
offspring of natural mystery — the shadows of shades, 
taking forms according to fancy in the twilight of philos- 
ophy. Those who turn their back upon realities and 
the glory that reveals them, substitute their own con- 
ceits and inventions for true discoveries, and then fall 
down and worship the creations of their own imagina- 
tions, instead of going on to learn the doctrine of facts in 
the deductions of enlightened reason. Many act as if 
they deemed themselves the ordained apostles of ideas, 
who yet scorn to acknowledge faith either in the Word 
or in the works of God. But surely man has no meais 
within his reach of acquiring an intimacy with truth but 
in the humble study of those objects which the Almighty 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 113 

has provided for him. If we are to reason and believe, 
we are to see and know the handiwork of God. The 
cause of thought and the end of thought are one — the 
Eternal Mind. Creation is the normal school of all in- 
telligences, and the history of the acts of the Divine Be- 
ing furnishes the whole course of study, and every les- 
son is only to teach us confidence in him. 

Away, then, with the idealism that would persuade 
us out of our senses, or leave us loose in a chaos of non- 
entities. Let us thank God for his endowments, use 
them rightly, and while rejoicing in the riches of an in- 
herited universe, let us not fall down in adoration to any 
thing ; but while acknowledging all things as, indeed, 
but symbols of the present Deity, let us learn from his 
works the vastness of omnipotent design ; let us look 
back and recognize the Eternal Creator ; and look for- 
ward with the feeling that we belong eternally to him 
in whom we possess an everlasting sufficiency. 

From these high thoughts we will now turn to re- 
consider the means through which, in this world, the 
Almighty instructs us. The senses are generally said 
to be five in number ; a little reflection, however, will 
convince us that there are other modes of experiencing 
sensation beside those of sight, smell, taste, hearing, and 
touch. There would, indeed, be no impropriety in re- 
garding every part of our bodies as an organ of sense, 
since every part is endowed with a kind of feeling pe- 
culiar to itself, and exactly suited to its office. Prob- 
ably all sensations are but modifications of the same 
nervous action, and they may all be regarded as the 
contact of an active agent with the organ, or of some- 
thing moving, or tending to move, operating on nerve. 
Thus light must touch the retina to excite sight ; the 
air must vibrate in the tympanum to induce sound ; the 
perfume must be breathed over the olfactory nerves ; 
and the sapid morsel must be dissolved upon the palate 



114 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

to cause taste. The special organs of sense convey to 
our souls definite information by which we discern our 
relation to the external world, and hence the health of 
the mind, as the manifestation of intellect and emotion, 
depends upon the integrity of the senses and of the 
nerves with which they are immediately connected. 
Every change in the state of the body is a change in the 
experience of the soul ; and as long as they are health- 
ily connected, the alterations in action are reciprocal. 
Every emotion is accompanied by a corresponding state 
of brain, and every change in the brain's condition in a 
like degree affects the character of consciousness. But 
yet the soul derives none of its faculties from the body: 
it only takes advantage of the senses and their relation 
to the brain to form ideas ; but then it is manifest that 
it must inherently possess the power of so doing. The 
knowledge of objects is acquired through the senses, 
but sense itself does not confer the perception even of 
things, much less of thoughts. To the soul belongs the 
reasoning power by which we infer from facts ; and this 
power employs memory, imagination, and comparison, 
and thus believes truths which can not be presented in 
any form to the senses. Hence we are susceptible of 
moral and religious education, through faith ; but the 
faculties of man, as a religious being, are not developed 
without the intercourse of different minds under differ- 
ent experiences ; and man's mind can not be elevated 
above mere bodily perceptions but by superior intelli- 
gence bringing within the sphere of its apprehension 
ideas of a higher nature, and thus supplying motives 
originally above its own. Thus the ideas of immortal- 
ity and of divine love must have been first taught to 
man by some being to whom these ideas were familiar, 
and in whom they inherently existed, since man could no* 
have obtained them merely from the use of his senses, 
in a world where suffering and death are so common. 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 115 

The Bible contains the only intelligence that is grant- 
ed to us concerning our capacity for future existence. 
From this book we learn, that when the body dies, the 
soul that used it departs to some other sphere ; the asso- 
ciations and the accommodations of which differ accord- 
ing to the character of each individual when summoned 
to receive his decisive appointment. When we look 
into the infinite abyss of worlds which the darkness of 
night and the light of the stars reveal to us, we can con- 
ceive no vacancy, no sphere unoccupied by physical 
existence ; and we are forced to imagine that each de- 
parted spirit finds its appropriate place amid the multi- 
tudinous orbs that, hung upon light, revolve together in 
order as when first flung from the hand of God. We 
may still suppose some vehicle of thought and will; 
some medium by which created mind may receive im- 
pression from matter, and act upon it. The physical 
theory of another life is an admissible speculation ; but 
as the data on which to reason are scarcely sufficient 
to form a foundation solid enough for any but the super- 
structures of Fancy, we may wisely endeavor to turn 
our eyes from the aerial visions conjured up by that 
magician, and content ourselves with the sober realities 
within our reach, and which are mysterious as well as 
important enough to demand and deserve the best use 
of our faculties. It imports not to infer or to fancy 
what is reserved by our Maker for the future experi- 
ence of our souls, since he has assured us that "it has 
not entered into the heart of man to conceive what he 
has prepared for those that love him." Let it suffice 
for our purpose to gather fresh evidences of his love 
toward us, and then we shall trust our eternal future, 
with a quiet joy, the gentle might of the Infinite, as 
an ignorant child trusts the affectionate parent's hand 
for guidance, his heart for sympathy, and his forethought 
and his wisdom for provision. The Father knows our 



116 THE SENSES, AND THEJIR OBJECTS. 

wants. The constitution of our bodies is no less a proof 
of his skill than of his kindness ; for as he has gifted us 
with minds to reap a rich harvest of enjoyment and of 
knowledge from this world, so has he furnished us with 
instruments by which to manifest our faculties, and with 
which, indeed, they so exactly correspond, that we 
scarcely ever imagine the existence of the one without 
the other, as if the mind, to act, could scarcely exist 
without the means of action, or the desire of pleasure 
without the capacity. The exceptions to this harmony 
of benevolence are so rare that we forget we live, and 
move, and have our being in God, and that He has so 
arranged the elements and atoms of our vital framework, 
that they obey the behests of the mind, and, as a rule, 
even in this world, render us, both in thinking and act- 
ing, happy. 

Some of the prominent peculiarities of man's forma- 
tion are especially worthy our observation, since we dis- 
cover in them the visible signs of man's transcending 
spirit. "Pronaque cum spectant animalia caetera ter- 
ram." Animals may be beautiful, but man is sublime 
even in his very form. He is evidently made for 
thought as well as for action; and a majesty resides on 
his brow which of itself sufficiently proves his right to 
the dominion of this world. He is clothed by his Ma- 
ker with a dignity that indicates that he is not to stoop 
except in adoration, and that he is incapable of being 
degraded except by bowing down to things below him, 
and worshiping the creature rather than the Crea- 
tor. 

The erect posture, the perfect hand, the delicate and 
sensible skin, the symmetrical proportion of parts, the 
indefatigable brain, the defenselessness, except by mind, 
the exquisite nervousness, tone, and arrangement of the 
whole body, place man far above and apart from all ani- 
mals. But what would all these endowments and ad- 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 117 

vantages avail without the harmonizing intelligence that 
uses them ? 

There is nothing so superior in man's sensations as 
that by them he, of course, becomes rational. Sense 
is not reason. Brutes are in some respects more sensi- 
tively endowed than man. But what do they infer ? 
They can not perceive a moral truth. And alas ! man 
without moral and religious intelligence sinks down to 
nearly the same level. Are not the habits of the lowest 
tribes of abandoned humanity almost brutal ? When 
furthest removed from the knowledge of doctrines 
taught among the patriarchs, and handed down in un- 
meaning fragments by tradition, but preserved in full 
efficiency in the Bible, man wanders so completely an 
outcast from his paradise as to forget that he has lost 
and may regain it. But when he is enlightened by 
truth to consider himself and his condition, he scans the 
wonders of divine contrivance, at once acknowledges 
Omnipotence, and learning from his own consciousness, 
when thus instructed, that the fountain of power is the 
source of love, he owns the claims of his Creator, and 
calls him God and Father, because he feels there is no 
greater good, no higher, no dearer parent. Hence, too, 
spring up, as from the soil of Eden, the sentiments and 
the affections, the holier ties of kindred, society, wor- 
ship — the Creator thus binding man to man by the very 
cords by which He unites humanity to Himself, and 
causes us to feel that in the sublimest sense religion is 
relationship. Nothing of this could man learn from his 
body. But the notion that the mind is a tabula rasa — 
a blank page on which Time may write the history of 
sensations — requires us to believe that every idea is the 
mere image of an exterior object. It is not so. The 
image of every object is colored by an inner light, and 
absolutely created by the mind as the representative of 
outward reality, so that nature awakens a correspond 



118 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

ing world within the soul, not merely as the reflection 
of things visible, audible, tangible, but as living thoughts, 
Degotten by the immediate act of Creative Power, and 
subject to laws of multiplication and affinity as distinct 
and imperative as those of material existence, and thus 
by memory, reflection, imagination, reason, indicating 
the vastness of man's destiny and dominion. 

Different beings have different ideas of the same 
objects, although they are seen with the same kind of 
sight. The power of association modifies the percep- 
tion, and a man of knowledge and thought looks upon 
a star with a mind far otherwise affected than he who 
sees it merely as a point of light. It is true that even 
mathematical axioms, such as the whole is greater than 
a part, may be fixed in our minds by the help of our 
sight, but yet it is the mind itself that makes the com- 
parison by which we know the fact. Logic is not alto- 
gether founded on the properties of matter; for we do 
not infer cause and effect, perceive order and reason 
from analog} 7 , merely in consequence of such and such 
material qualities, but we draw conclusions, which ob- 
jects can not intimate except to a soul intuitively endow- 
ed with the faculty of understanding, in a measure, what 
is invisible from what is seen. What object can give 
us an idea of Deity? None; and yet we can not reflect 
upon the nature and design of the simplest thing about 
us without coming to the conclusion that it was produced 
by a power that willed its existence ; and in this thought 
we have an inspiration which leads us on, as we contem- 
plate it, to the inevitable conviction that there is an 
absolutely perfect and self-existent being who thus 
teaches us to trust Him by teaching us to think of His 
might. 

Beside the authority and control which man is called 
to exercise over things which perish, he is required to 
reign as a king over thoughts which are eternal ; and 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 119 

while lie learns the purposes and the workings of Holy 
Might within him, and around him in the world of mat- 
ter and the world of mind, he finds himself the mani- 
fested representative of God over both. Therefore he 
turns his eye instinctively in adoration toward the limit- 
less heaven, and while admiring the marvelousness o£ 
all the Omnipotent's workmanship, he triumphs with an 
awful joy in contemplating the fearful wonders of his 
own framework, and his more stupendous spirit, for thus 
he discovers how he stands at the summit of creation in 
immediate contact with his Maker, as if the Mediator 
and High Priest that enters within the holy place, and 
learns, in earthly symbols, the meaning of things heav- 
enly. 

But the highest form of perception in man is con- 
science ; and yet this seems to be merely a sense of 
approval or disapproval, according to the standard we 
erect by which to estimate notions of moral excellence 
and personal advantage. Many persons from whose 
education and habits greater clearness of mind might be 
expected, speak of conscience as if all they conceived of 
it was that it stood in the relation of a better kind of 
soul attached to common sense for the purpose of cor- 
recting it. To such persons the scriptural terms, good 
conscience and bad conscience, must be perplexing. 
"We see that this moral consciousness or conscience will 
be good or bad, just as we choose our standard of self- 
measurement. The man whose motives are no higher 
than himself, or who does not acknowledge and obey 
any authority above his own impulses, is at the worst, 
as regards conscience ; but he who, like a true Christian, 
regards Perfection himself as the model for his own 
imitation, resigns mere self to the attractions of divine 
beauty, and thus seeks to have a conscience void of 
offense both toward God and toward man. In pro- 
portion as a man partakes of this mind, will be his mora 



120 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

sensitiveness. Self, however, is sublimated, not lost. 
That is esteemed good by us which would be beneficial 
or productive of mental pleasure to ourselves : and that 
evil which would produce pain : hence the whole law of 
morality is summed up in one sentence : " Love thy 
neighbor as thyself." Thus individualism is the basis 
of society. But our consciousness is the rule by which 
to judge of others, and we enjoy fellowship because we 
can sympathize. In proportion as we become feelingly 
acquainted with the purposes of God in our existence, 
will be our estimate of our individual and collective 
dignity ; and knowing our constitution as human beings, 
possessing even in our bodies, the credentials of our 
birthright to majesty and dominion, we can feel with 
others, and practically exhibit the propriety of the pre- 
cept — " Honor all men." 

The soul, then, is not made to seek its rest and satis- 
faction in tangible existence ; for our consciousness 
proves to us, with sufficient force, that there are most 
mighty truths with the revelation of which to our 
apprehension the senses have nothing to do, but as 
instruments, which can no more form our judgments 
or sytems of reasoning than Newton's telescope could 
form his principia. The senses serve only to indicate 
external things, in a manner which reason must inter- 
pret according to laws of her own, so as to form a system 
of faith for her guidance in the hope and pursuit of 
felicity. Our characters are not determined by the fine- 
ness of our senses, but by the state of our wills in rela- 
tion to God ; and our wills are not rectified by sensa- 
tion, but by conscience — the power within us by which 
we discern between good and evil when properly set 
before us. This power once ruled like a sun amid the 
system of man's faculties, constraining them to move 
aright, each harmoniously in its own orbit, deriving 
light, beauty, and order from the central source. But 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 121 

some disturbing force has interfered with the harmony 
of our being. Man does not yield to the attractions of 
heaven, and he wills not to move by ru]e, but rather 
according to the impulses that may arise in his intricate 
and endless wanderings. How, then, shall we be taught ? 
The will that is not governed by intuition, or by direct 
intelligence from the Divine Mind, can be informed only 
by experience of the actual difference between good and 
evil, through suffering the palpable results of evil in 
bodily disorder. And probably nothing could more 
perfectly exhibit the might that extends to minutiae — 
the gentleness of Omnipotence arranging atoms — than 
the delicacy and vigilance of the love that, in the sug- 
gestive experiences of a perishing body, manifestly super- 
intends our training for immortality. Nevertheless, many 
minds altogether disregard the power that is at work 
within them. Some seem to pass away as ignorant at 
their exit from this breathing life as at their entrance into 
it, as if their existence here were only for the sake of 
others, or as the trials of minds but partially awake. 
Some acquire just knowledge enough to fall in love with 
their own bodies, and so the thought of leaving them is 
death. Some possess a refined discernment of all that 
is beautiful in form, exquisite in design, and wonderful in 
construction, and by studying these, they acquire a clas- 
sical taste, while their standard reaches scarcely to the 
height of human excellence, since they look not beyond 
the grosser elements that might combine to please their 
fancies and form the doubtful Elysium which they wish 
to be eternal. But others are of a sturdier, and yet of a 
more spiritual order. These are men not merely of sense 
and sentiments,* but of heart and soul, with affections 
and faculties all devoutly, and therefore benevolently 
and wisely active, according to the knowledge which 
they rejoice to own as proceeding from him who formed 
them for Himself. With such we desire to be qualified 



122 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

to associate. But this, we repeat, can not be without 
the influence of those lofty motives which sustain the 
mind in its endeavors to hold dominion over the body, 
and keep its appetites in subjection, so that they may 
serve their appointed purpose in enabling us to sympa- 
thize with each other, and in teaching us humility by 
proving our frailty and dependence. If our success in 
aiming to secure the advantages of intellectual and 
moral cultivation did not mainly depend on our man- 
agement of the body, we might be excused from all 
concern about its well-being. But the activity and 
health of the soul itself require that we should not only 
enjoy a healthy body, but that it should be habitually 
controlled by reasonable thought, and thus be rendered 
the medium and instrument, not only of sensation, but 
also of demonstrating the power of a divine life ; for, 
according to the direction of desire, we make the body 
the means of groveling below the brute, or else of 
attaining a moral mastery, and thus of securing those 
triumphs which the angels may admire. We shall dis- 
cover, as we proceed, that this adaptation of the body to - 
answer the demands of reason is, in a great measure, an 
acquired fitness. It is produced by the efforts made by 
the mind to accomplish its own wishes, and hence it 
will be more or less complete, according to the manner 
in which the mental and moral powers are called into 
exercise by education and social sympathy. The soul 
and body are so united and so constituted that all our 
perceptions are associated with the actions and feelings 
of our fellow-beings, and therefore he who would attempt 
to impart intelligence without regard to sympathy, would 
but attempt to produce a mind without social motive — 
that is, to make his pupil inhuman. Every agency that 
acts upon our senses was evidently intended to operate 
in subservience to our personal associations ; for we 
never receive either pain or pleasure without at one© 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 123 

thinking of some one whom we desire to know our feel- 
ing ; therefore there is no joy, even in truth itself, with- 
out fellowship ; and it is in vain to aim at governing the 
reason without appealing to the affections. 

A more stupendous proof of creative benevolence is 
nowhere to be found than in the multitudinous enjoy- 
ments of living creatures, each endowed with distinct 
character, each attached to a prepared habitat, each ex- 
actly accommodated according to its tastes, and yet the 
vast myriads all enlivened by the same light, all breath- 
ing the same air. The properties peculiar to each 
plant are but adaptations to creatures that can enjoy 
them. The scent, the form, the color of every flower 
and every leaf, and probably also of the very particles 
of earth that may be scattered by the wind, and even 
the various sands washed by the boundless sea, are all in 
keeping with the senses, and the appetites, and the 
habits of different living beings. From the mammoth 
to the mite, from the iguanodon to the minutest animal- 
cule, the hand of the Almighty has equally provided 
for every want. That order of the elements which has 
been most productive of life has been that which has 
been most productive of the means of maintaining life 
delightfully ; for though a malediction has visibly been 
written on the soil of earth, yet even now the goodness 
which at first overflowed from the Maker of worlds as 
He contemplated his works, still appears so exuberant, 
that our ideas of Omnipotence must be enlarged and 
exalted by Himself before we can believe in the possi- 
bility of benevolence greater than is here demonstrated. 
There is, however, a higher order of means existing, 
and a higher still intimated as about to be for the benefit 
of man ; for, as before observed, God has devised a 
world of grace and providence for the cultivation of the 
human intellect and the human heart. He affords us 
free scope for the development of all noble affections 



124 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

and faculties, and places impediments only in the way 
of evil. He teaches us by whatever presents itself to 
our senses, and thus we become conversant with all the 
marvelous properties of material agents, and acquire fa- 
miliarity with the thoughts and feelings of our fellow- 
creatures and of Heaven. Thus all that belougs to so- 
ciality and conscience is elicited and exercised so as to 
direct the present and indicate the future. The Maker 
of mind and beauty has fashioned our eyes for the light, 
and tempered his glory to our vision ; and He also has 
endowed our spirits with capacity to admire and enjoy. 
Every sense has its appropriate delight, and even the 
commonest necessities of the body are, in a healthy 
state, associated with pleasure, either in the direct grat- 
ification of appetite, or in the business of preparation to 
supply it ; for every proper desire has a proper object, 
and every effort a corresponding hope. The blight upon 
our being is, indeed, too often evident, because man is 
still regardless of the laws of nature and of God ; but 
yet the Almighty accommodates and serves his creature, 
for he mercifully removes the curse of barrenness and 
briers by conferring on industry the power of scattering 
flowers and fruits around her path ; and even where the 
curse seemed rooted in the ground, hope and diligence 
have dug it out, and abundance has there filled the 
reaper's bosom. Every kingdom of nature yields innu- 
merable means of usefulness or ornament to man ; and 
so benevolently has Providence arranged even the pro- 
cess of decay itself as to secure a constant supply of 
aliment to rising generations, and has caused the death 
of one to be the life of more, and the merciful destruc- 
tion of a luxuriant world to furnish exhaustless stores for 
the anticipated wants, intellectual as well as physical, of 
those who shall inhabit another. The deluge but re- 
freshed the earth, and earthquakes have but diversified 
it with beauty and productiveness. Tho epoch of appa- 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 125 

§ 

rent ruin is the era of a new order, and thus as man- 
kind are removed to other spheres, those who succeed 
them here find their higher necessities provided for ; and 
the world they live in, amid all its changes, is always suf- 
ficiently convenient to their bodies, and properly adapt- 
ed to their minds and moral natures. The exquisite 
adaptation of the world we dwell in to our spiritual con- 
stitution is best evinced by special examination of the 
agents which act upon our senses, and contribute either 
to the disturbance or to the maintenance of enjoyment. 
Without an organized body we should be unfit for our 
abode, because the elements around us are so adjusted 
to each other and to us that they may operate through 
the medium of our nerves. The wonderful mechan- 
ism by which we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel is but 
the benevolent accommodation of our Maker in order to 
teach us how to reason concerning His power and His 
goodness. Some philosophers set their bounds to Om- 
nipotence, and regard Him as incapable of creating spirits 
that shall think and feel by virtue of divine operation, 
without the intervention of material organization. Surely 
He who formed the eye can see without it, and, if He 
will, can cause his creature to perceive as He pleases. 
The idea of an object is created as well as the object 
itself; and the Almightiness at work to form our ideas 
and thoughts in connection with matter could determine 
our consciousness without that connection. Even now 
perception depends not merely on sense but on that 
power which perceives through sense. Sensation is a 
change in the state, not of the body only, but also of that 
which is conscious in the body ; and we know that it 
may become incapable for a time of perceiving through 
the body in consequence of its being intently occupied 
by thoughts. The relation of our minds to time is not 
the mere result of the connection between mind and 
matter, but the effect of creative purpose in willing us 



126 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

thus to perceive the difference between action and rest, 
and the length of one action in comparison with another. 
There is wonderful beauty in the adaptation of our 
senses to the motions of matter. We are, indeed, at- 
tuned to the harmony of the universe. Whether we 
are made conscious of matter, or only of ideas, time is 
still an element of consciousness, for a sense of duration 
is essential to our mental action. It is manifest, there- 
fore, that whether we think of objects remembered, or 
of objects present, we equally conceive of time, because 
our perceptions in both cases are successive — that is, one 
idea follows another in associated order. From dream- 
ing and meditating it appears, however, that we possess 
faculties which produce ideas, and measure ther contin- 
uance by a very different standard from that of sense, for 
we find ideas presented to our minds with sufficient dis- 
tinctness, and yet with such rapidity, that we imagine in 
a minute the history of an age. As, then, while the 
soul is associated with the body, it is capable of con- 
densing actions, and yet preserving a due notion of time 
irrespective of the body, why should philosophers con- 
clude that a continual connection with corporeity is es- 
sential to thinking in relation to time, or with the con- 
sciousness of comparing idea with idea successively ? 
There is an order of mind, and there is an order of mat- 
ter ; so, also, there is a sense of time belonging to bodily 
existence, and a consciousness of duration belonging to 
the spirit. The former measures by the relative move- 
ments of material things, the latter measures only by 
thoughts. We will not however puzzle ourselves with 
speculations ; it is enough for us to know that the Ma- 
ker of mind is the Maker of matter also; and that 
whether in the body or out of the body, the thinking 
being continues to think according to the ordinances and 
intention of Him who can not err. Omnipotence oper- 
ates always to give each one of us the consciousness of 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 127 

our identity, and He at the same time accommodates ua 
all with definite places in his universe, hereby assuring 
us that we can not do better than rejoice in His good- 
ness and trust Him forever. We are not made to stand 
alone or to dwell in an unsettled limbo without laws, but 
to move, like worlds revolving on light, in orbits regula- 
ted by the hand of God. But physical laws, as regards 
ourselves, are altogether subservient to moral laws, and, 
while we feel the unchanging might that created and 
that governs matter we are taught by intuition and the 
spirit of our Creator within us, to rely on the love that 
appeals to our reason. He who formed us with wills 
and affections, presents us with appropriate motives and 
objects ; and there is no purpose in nature, as regards 
us, but to inform our spirits that we are not left to 
move at random, or to revolve in physical attractions, 
" like moats that people the sunbeam," or like dust in 
the whirlwind : we are made to act with a conscience, 
and dark is the philosophy that would teach us to be- 
lieve in power separate from love. 

As the senses are the avenues through which we 
perceive objects, it is requisite that the mind should be 
more or less on the alert in order to reap advantage 
from them. Although the soul which animates and 
employs the body derives none of its fitness or capacity 
to correspond with others from the senses themselves, 
yet we have seen that without their assistance the soul 
must remain in this world but a torpid prisoner in dark- 
ness. As the faculties of some animals lie dormant, 
sealed up in seeming death by the touch of winter, so 
in certain diseases we see the human energies of life, 
action, and thought, as regards outward manifestation, 
congealed at the source — not a sense is awake, not a 
faculty responds to our call. The organization designed 
to establish intercourse with this objective world, be- 
comes a barrier to perception ; but as the genial light 



128 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

and warmth of returning spring sets the vital power ot 
the dormant animal more vigorously into action, one 
sense after another lets in impressions from objects 
around, and the creature realizes its relation to a world 
full of sights and sounds. The power of enjoyment and 
remembrance belongs to its consciousness; it recognizes 
its place, and finding all the properties of things adapt- 
ed to its disposition, the very act of using its senses is 
its happiness, and it feels amid the sunshine and the 
flowers as glad as it can live. Thus is it also with man, 
when his spirit is brought into relation to his proper 
place, as a being of large sympathies, intense affections, 
and infinite expansiveness. And yet this glorious being 
hangs on a fiber : his knowledge, and happiness, and 
power, in this mansion of the Creator, is suspended on 
nerves, the fitness of which to favor mental operation 
depends on arrangements of inscrutable delicacy, and 
on invisible agencies ever present. Wondrous beyond 
conception is the might that creates and preserves the 
exquisite adaptations of the soul to the brain, the brain 
to the senses, the senses to the properties of things, in 
order to qualify our sensations to our inner nature, and 
to teach us by consciousness the facts of existence, and 
thus to inform our reason by an actual feeling of the 
wisdom of divine law. 

The manner in which all the attributes of a healthy 
body comport with the demands of the soul, as regards 
earthly uses, indicates that man was originally constituted 
only for happiness. The senses harmonize together, and 
thus subserve the soul; but we can not conceal the fact 
that we feel defect and disappointment in the present 
order of things, which can not be accounted for but by 
acknowledging that the reasoning spirit is constituted 
with capacity for delights that the sunshine of this world 
does not ripen. When our minds have tasted but a drop 
from the celestial fountain of truth, we turn away from 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 129 

mere sensualities ; and were it not so, all men would 
sink down into an epicurean elysium, and make the vine- 
clad valleys of earth their substitutes for heaven. The 
very suitability of the senses to the appetites of the soul 
would confirm this tendency, and soon render the enjoy- 
ments of sense so habitual as to be alone desirable, if Provi- 
dence did not mercifully interpose with pain to direct our 
hopes and aspirations to the true sources of bliss in the 
integrity of the spirit and its intercourse with heaven. 

Every impression on sense produces a correspondent 
action on the brain, and thus rouses the soul to act ac- 
cording to the law of association — that is, according to 
innate propensity modified by experience. If the brain 
be healthy, and its proper connections be unbroken, we 
no sooner think, than those nerves are excited which 
belong to the organs that put us in relation to the objects 
of our thought and desire. Thus, when a man thinks 
of what he loves, his features assume an appropriate 
expression, and every fiber of his frame is animated by 
his imagination. One who loves music, and whose body 
is well prepared for activity — that is, a person of san- 
guine temperament — requires to be under the strongest 
restraints of education, to prevent his breaking out into 
a song or a dance when the sound, or even the memory 
of a lively measure strikes his mind. A person who 
thus yields to excitement is one who trusts to impulse 
for his enjoyment, whose habit is the reverse of reflect- 
ive, who can scarcely endure orderly discourse, and who 
never reads for the purpose of furnishing his mind with 
facts, or fortifying his reason with true principles. This 
condition of mind is most dangerous, because organiza- 
tion will express and perpetuate thoughts, and emotion 
will at length become permanent, which is madness ; 
therefore, any one who is conscious of a tendency to- 
ward this state should at once commence a new course 
of training. Converse with nature, reader ; exert the 
9 



130 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

mind, with a worthy object always in view ; seek associ- 
ation with steady thinkers ; abstain from sensual indul- 
gence : thus you will conquer your lower state of self, 
and find the body and all its senses happily subservient 
to the soul, which, regarding its dignity as heir to an 
infinite and perpetual inheritance, would then no longer 
sport with existence, but walk abroad under the ever- 
lasting firmament, rejoicing that light is everywhere, and 
expecting to be rendered worthy, because willing, to 
commune with Omnipotence as indeed a friend. 

The habit of excitement is incompatible with mental 
and moral health ; regularity, or an orderly succession 
of objects in the use of the senses according to their 
constitution in relation to time, is not more necessary 
for our intellectual advancement, than for the production 
and preservation of our happiness ; because the laws of 
our physical existence and of our spiritual being are 
equally broken by undue stimulation. The movements 
of our minds require to be measured by those of the 
universe. The ordinances of heaven are those of our 
faculties ; and therefore, if we, in ignorant willfulness or 
in perverse presumption, endeavor to excite too many 
chords at once, or allow impulses to crowd upon our 
nerves, discord must awaken within us, and both our 
faculties and our affections, our passions and our prin- 
ciples, become deranged, never again to be reduced to 
order, until He who spake the planets out of chaos shall 
call new harmony into existence. True obedience is 
never in a hurry, but confusion is akin to faithlessness. 
The designs of God are in perfect sequence, and in ac- - 
cordance with our moral and intellectual improvement. 
Let us, therefore, steadily use what we possess, and pa- 
tiently wait for our perfection ; eternity is before us, and 
the Infinite our guide. 

Every organ of sense being in correspondence with 
a certain portion of brain, and every part of the brain 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 131 

being in relation to the mind, it follows that every alter- 
ation in the state of the organs influences the operation 
of the mind, and every change in the action of the mind 
modifies also the state of the organs, as far as regards 
sensation. This reciprocal influence is most manifest in 
the organs of special sense. The power of ideas over 
sensation is an extremely interesting subject, on which 
we might advantageously enlarge ; but in this place we 
must be satisfied with a reference to a few facts, illus- 
trative of the direct action of the mind in producing im- 
pressions on the nerves. Thinking excites the senses ; 
but the mind receives no distinct ideas from them unless 
directed to them. An object may be present before the 
eye ; but if the thoughts are intently engaged about other 
things, there is no perception of the object. Some de- 
gree of attention is necessary to the formation of the 
most imperfect idea ; for the senses are the instruments 
by which we search for objects according to predetermi- 
nation and experience. Of course, as the senses are 
intended to intimate to us our relation to surrounding 
things, we are governed by circumstances ; nevertheless, 
our consciousness of the past,* and our eagerness in pur- 
suit of thoughts frequently so far predominate, that we 
scarcely attend, in the slightest degree, to externals. 
Any sound, any sight, any movement, any stirring of 
the air may, indeed, disturb the student when endeav- 
oring to fix his soul upon a subject, but if he be thor- 
oughly in the midst of his meditation, it requires almost 
a violence to his senses to recall him to their use. 

A state of brain which may illustrate this subject is 
sometimes brought on spontaneously by age. Thus 
Conolly relates the case of an old gentleman who, in 
fixing his eyes on a book, loses sight of it, and reads 
instead what is written in his memory, so that the book 
falling on the ground, he still reads on, while his eyes 
gaze only on his pocket-handkerchief Another old 



132 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

gentleman declared himself to be dead, and felt rather 
scandalized to find the windows not closed. He begged 
that his absent friends might be informed that he went 
off easily, and requested one pinch more of his favorite 
snuff before he was finally screwed down. 

When the mind is bent on any application which pre- 
cludes the free use of the limbs and senses, the brain is 
apt to be inordinately engaged, the nervous energy be- 
comes concentrated, and not being drawn off and ex- 
hausted in the natural manner through the muscles, the 
nerves themselves are likely to undergo structural and 
functional change. Sociality and active exercise, under 
moral restraints, are the safeguards both of the intellect 
and the heart. Probably the intense habits of thought 
and feeling engendered by the refinements of civilization 
are the more likely to produce maladies of the mind, in 
consequence of the restraints on expression and action 
which such a state of society also demands. Civilization 
will not be perfectly consistent with Christianity — that 
is, with the highest development of our faculties, — until 
our knowledge of the laws of nature and of Heaven is 
practically exhibited in obedience both to physiology 
and to revelation. The disregard of these, and the sub- 
stitution of fashionable delusions for divine realities, of 
artifice for truth, probably cause the great frequency of 
madness among us. The statistics of crime and insanity 
warrant our concluding, that the causes which favor the 
one also promote the other. Reason, however, will have 
availed us but little, if her light has not enabled us to 
discern that the best estate of man is not attained by 
abstract studies and enlargement of intellect. We do 
not approach perfection by orderly obedience to those 
laws of animal existence, under which the body in all 
its parts is properly developed, but by employing them 
morally. The finest model may be the vilest man. Our 
senses may be as harmoniously exercised as if we dwelt 









THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 133 

at home in the paradise of Eden, and yet the heart be 
like an untuned harp, yielding only discord to the touch 
that awakens it. There is still something wanting to 
the completion of human character beyond knowledge, 
and beauty, and strength ; for we may surpass all around 
us in that talent which enables us to take advantage of 
circumstances for our own aggrandizement, and be uni- 
versally admired for external excellences, and be even 
worshiped as heroes, and yet employ our power in a 
tyranny that shall degrade ourselves into fiends, and our 
subjects into idiots. Whatever may be the endowments 
of a man, his nature demands more than he can find in 
nature to fill him with ennobling motive, and preserve 
him from degenerating into a mere selfish, subtile slave. 
I say his nature, because he everywhere demonstrates 
by his conduct that he feels a sense of defect and defi- 
ciency. Whether he prowl the prairies of vast America, 
or the howling wilderness of Africa, still man apprehends 
a want of aid from above. He strives to propitiate the 
Great Spirit, he appends to his person some charmed 
token of imagined protection, he hears God in the thun- 
der, he sees the flashings of his glittering spear in the 
lightning, he adores the clouds, and watches for wonders 
wherever he looks, and always lives in fear, because he 
has offended. His love and his hate are equally fierce, 
and all, but his own small tribe, that cling together from 
necessity like a pack of wolves, are his deadly foes. His 
nature wants something to set it right, and what that is 
the child's story of Africaner suffices to show us. This 
man was once the savage Napoleon and desolator of 
Southern Africa ; but he had heard of the good- will of 
God to man, and among his last words were these : 
44 Live peaceably, and love God." 

Man, when left to himself, becomes the mere vaga- 
bond of creation. But extremes meet. The fanatic, 
whose whole being is kindled with enthusiasm by a spark 



134 THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 

of truth, instead of having all his faculties pervaded with 
her light, is but little wiser in his outrageous worship 
than the savage who obscenely dances his adorations to 
his hideous idols. His passions are more mighty than 
his reason. But it is only when reason has acquired 
motive to look beyond outward sight, and is enabled 
to infer a brighter futurity, that the present world be- 
comes fully significant, and the awakened spirit begins 
to obtain glimpses of the paradise from which man fell 
when he found himself naked and ashamed. Light from 
heaven must bring the day-dawn to the cloudy horizon 
of earth, and sun-bright truth must beam upon the 
world within man, before the outward works of God will 
appear in the perfection of beauty. Use the world, is 
the doctrine of purity ; for the physical framework and 
the moral constitution of man are so far in keeping with 
the outward cosmos, that it is vain to attempt to regu- 
late our faculties and feelings without respect to the 
ordinances of God in the material creation. The pow- 
ers that govern us are all ordained by Him, and if we 
really understood our position, and our calling as bearers 
of the cross, whose sole business is obedience to a higher, 
holier will than our own, we should yield ourselves and 
conquer. The informed soul looks onward forever to 
still higher regions of enjoyment and of light, for which 
each of us will be qualified just in proportion as each 
obeys the injunction — let all things be done decently and 
in order. Beauty is obedience, the visible expression of 
divine law, the reflection of creative love, which can only 
be seen in order and in loveliness. 

The end of our argument is then simply to show that 
clearness and extent of intellect depend on the power 
of the soul to attend to sensation, and to direct muscular 
action ; and hence, that moral character will be entirely 
determined by the habit of association with other minds ; 
for our motive for attending and acting is mainly derived 



THE SENSES, AND THEIR OBJECTS. 135 

from our love of others ; and as are our affections, so 
must be our will, therefore, it is above all things neces- 
sary that a man's true interests, as a spiritual being, 
should always be clearly present to his mind, since he 
will otherwise think and act just as his sensual nature 
may at the moment dictate. 



CHAPTER IX. 

LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 

Since heat, electricity, magnetism, light, and the ner- 
vous energy are proved to be intimately related to each 
other, we need no longer wonder that the sun should 
appear to be the fountain of all animation to this earth. 
The consideration of the effects of light on the human 
being involves also that of the influences which light 
seems to call into action ; the chief of which, as regards 
its manifest operation on vital development, is caloric, or 
that which causes the seusation of heat. The Almighty 
regulates all nature by the combination of opposing 
forces ; and as attraction gives origin to form and den- 
sity, so heat, acting as the divellent force, imparts to 
bodies a tendency to expand. It is, therefore, essential 
to fluidity and motion, which sufficiently demonstrates 
its importance in every thing appertaining to life. 

From the icy home of the Esquimaux to that of the 
savage that burrows in the sands of Sahara, we find man 
everywhere exhibiting habits and characteristics in a 
great degree derived from the peculiarities of his posi- 
tion with regard to warmth. Man, however, does not 
thrive simply as an animal. His physical frame may 
grow to perfection amid the general luxuriance of vege- 
table and animal life in a burning clime, provided water 
bursts from the rock, or distills from heaven ; but still 
he is intellectually a dwarf, unless intelligence combine 
with his necessities to enlarge his thoughts, and stim- 
ulate his exertions. Where the very sun which en 



LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 137 

lightens him at the same time excites his blood with a 
fervency that unfits him for tranquil reflection, and ex- 
alts his passions, while depressing the springs of mental 
vigor, of course the tide of natural tendency must ever 
be toward vice and degradation, not because vice springs 
from sunshine, but because the human heart inherits 
evil dispositions, and, therefore, unless restrained by 
religious conviction, always, and as a matter of course, 
takes advantage of every opportunity to indulge its self- 
ish license. 

Knowing the nature of our dependence on the state 
of the brain and of the blood, we might determine the 
locality most favorable to mental and moral development ; 
and no one could doubt the probability of finding, what 
we find, in fact, that in the temperate zone man would 
appear in the highest state of intellectual cultivation. 
But concerning the effects of climate on mental action, 
we need not now expatiate ; it is evident that the prog- 
ress of the human race from its origin in Eden has been 
influenced almost as much by climate as by knowledge. 
We can exemplify the effects of climate in some meas- 
ure by our experience of seasons. Who has not felt the 
tone of his soul in sympathy with the changes on the 
face of nature, and modified by degrees of temperature ? 
As in warm climates, passion and imagination are apt to 
be exalted at the expense of the deliberative faculties, 
so we feel the enthusiasms of fancy most energetically 
during summer. When the bloom and verdure of rural 
scenes are at their height, and the leaves and flowers 
tremble with life responsive to the light that dances in 
the dew-drops which begem their edges, and the pas- 
sionate songs of birds burst from the green vistas of the 
grove in a flood of joy, and all nature seems bathed in 
satisfying brilliance, how can we but feel a genial influ- 
ence pervade our every fiber ? No dream of bliss then 
appears extravagant. The vivacity and coloring of East- 



138 LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 

ern tales, and the romances of uncalculating. love, seem 
not then so perfectly unreasonable. The philosophy of 
physics looks as mean and meager as a skeleton articu- 
lated with wires, while we enjoy the animation of a 
spirit for which materialism can not account, and which 
the coldest theorists can not conquer. Yet probably 
Milton's picture of paradise is but a summer rhapsody, 
and our highest ideas of an imagined heaven are due to 
the delights we have experienced from visible beauty, 
under the glowing and glorious influences of that univer- 
sal Apollo, the sun, the only perceptible source of the 
dry splendor to which the lugubrious Heraclitus thought 
he could trace all the powers of the mind. We, how- 
ever, know better. We trace our energies to a source 
above the solar system, and feel our sufficiency to exist 
only in our connection with the Father of lights and of 
spirits, who is pleased to minister by so many means to 
our spiritual progress through the medium of material 
forms. Our souls spring not from dust, but are pro- 
duced on earth from a higher sphere, the ordinances of 
which still cling to their being, though commonly lost to 
our perception amid the impressions crowding on our 
senses. 

Although Ptolemy and Posidonius declare the south 
to be best calculated for the study of divine subjects, 
and Plato, Hippocrates, and Galen say that cold humid- 
ity produces stolid souls, nevertheless, all we learn from 
facts, as to sunshine engendering genius, or of gloom be- 
getting stupidity and forgetfulness, is simply this — the 
mind really triumphs over all disadvantages, and man, 
when inspired by motives derived from a knowledge of 
his eternal destiny, his Maker's interest in his being, 
equally evinces the loftiness and grandeur of his endow- 
ments in every quarter of the habitable globe. Whether 
in the frozen regions, or in the heart of Africa, the cul- 
tivated mind still exhibits its power to devise and to dis- 



LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 139 

cover. Knowledge and faith, alike experimental, and 
alike working by love, subdue all the kingdoms of this 
world, and the people that possess the highest moral 
motives must, therefore, ultimately predominate in every 
clime. Intellect must reign, and that because true reli- 
gion is its living soul and quickening spirit. It can not 
yield to error ; it can not sink at the sight of difficulty, 
but must gain fresh energy from every opposition, for its 
business is to conquer all enemies, and to confer a re- 
sistless life on industry and science. 

Those who are accustomed to consider disease, detect 
many tendencies which others overlook. Physicians 
know there are critical years, days, and hours belonging 
to every body ; certain periods in which susceptibility is 
increased or altered. There is a mysterious law of na- 
ture indicative of powers in action beyond the ken of 
science. A sort of sympathy exists between the body 
and the globe we dwelVon, giving a tendency to the re- 
currence of certain states at certain intervals, and so con- 
trolling, by time and measure, the influences which 
operate upon us, that many of the events which most 
nearly concern us may be calculated with arithmetical 
precision. 

The paroxysm of a daily ague comes on when the 
rate of our breathing is lowest, and that of alternate days 
when our breathing is at the highest, for according to 
the degrees of light and heat, we consume different 
quantities of oxygen, and as the alternations of rest and 
action are regulated by the sun, so our nervous systems, 
according to their state, are subjected to periodic altera- 
tions. Then again, it is observed, that there is a corre- 
spondence between the variations of the magnetic needle 
and the daily condition of function. The variations in 
temperature, too, and of the barometer, have certain 
regular periods which affect both body and mind, and 
there is reason to believe that all these influences ex- 



140 LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 

tend through all animated beings according to a certain 
order in relation to number. The ratio of all these 
influences may probably be measured b.y degrees of 
light ; and as this agency most distinctly stimulates our 
faculties while revealing to our sight almost every object 
concerning which we reason, it will be proper for us to 
reflect a little more fully on the relation which it bears 
to our well-being. 

Action, life, feeling, thought, are all associated with 
light. Ere it flew forth like a pervading spirit, obedient 
to the word of God, this earth was unadorned, unfur- 
nished, lifeless ; but wherever light has penetrated, there 
also beauty and order, will and mind, are manifested 
through all" the variety of appropriate organizations. 
The Promethean torch has quickened the cold marble ; 
but man, without the continued emanation from a purer 
world, would yet find his icy tomb in this, hopeless of a 
resurrection. The link with heaven is unbroken : light 
still binds all worlds together, and its magnetic might 
reaches and rules the granite framework of our earth, 
awakening harmony more mysterious than that of Menl- 
non's statue. Every color and every shape of visible 
creation discourses to man's spirit of an embracing, in- 
forming, vivifying Power, which can only be shadowed 
forth by the sun, and of whose nature and benevolence 
light is but as the written name. 

We possess proof of the astounding fact, that solar 
light causes a regular succession of movements in the 
medium through which it passes, to the amount of five 
hundred millions of millions in a second ; and it is be- 
cause this vibration acts upon something in our brain 
capable of vibrating in a corresponding ratio, that our 
souls are put in such relation to light that we can enjoy 
vision. The time of different colors, however, is not the 
same ; our sense of sight is affected by red four hundred 
and fifty-eight millions of millions of times in a second ; 



LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 141 

by violet, seven hundred and twenty-seven millions of 
times ; and by yellow, five hundred and forty-two millions 
of millions of times in a second. Of course, therefore, 
different colors differently affect our souls. Throughout 
nature, these undulations of light are so modified as to 
be productive of a vast variety of enjoyments to various 
creatures, and to operate in such a manner upon their 
nerves and faculties as to guide them to the fulfillment 
of those desires which color and shape contribute to ex- 
cite. 

All happiness, derived through the senses of sight 
and sound, is dependent on the vibrations of light and 
air, which are so attuned by the touch of Deity as to 
suit the diversified powers of perception possessed by 
the beings upon earth, so that not a ray of light shall fall 
upon a cloud or on a flower, nor a sound, nor, indeed, a 
feeling or a scent be elicited, but it shall indicate the 
hand of Omnipotence at work to regulate vibrations in 
keeping with the senses of his innumerable creatures. 
How unutterably delicate the might that thus harmo- 
nizes human existence ! 

These facts are referred to, merely to show how stu- 
pendous are those refinements and subtilties of matter 
with which the soul is associated, and to indicate how 
inconceivably diminutive are the causes of delight and of 
disorder. How unwise, then, is our wonder at not be- 
ing able to discover more of our spiritual nature, since 
even its material vehicle and instruments are so incom- 
prehensible ! Surely, all the truths which reach our 
reason are intended to convince us that our being is con- 
stantly the care of Almighty Wisdom and Benevolence ; 
and as surely, therefore, it is our proper business to ob- 
serve the laws under which we live, and to obey them, 
in confiding and adoring submissiveness to the love that 
has imposed them. 

Many interesting facts might be adduced to demon- 



142 LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 

strate the importance of our considering the direct 
operation of color, merely as such, upon the mental 
faculties. No doubt a large measure of our pleasure 
from color is due to association and the sense of the 
agreeable, for it seems quite natural to connect color 
with sentiment ; hence every thoughtful mind can ap- 
preciate the poet's truthfulness in speaking of the " green 
and yellow melancholy," and of " celestial rosy red," as 
44 love's proper hue." Irrespective, however, of the in- 
fluence of what we are accustomed to call the cheerful- 
ness of particular colors — perhaps simply because a 
degree of brightness is always pleasing to the healthy 
brain — there is reason to believe that colors will be 
agreeable or disagreeable, not only according to the 
general state of the affections and of intellectual idiosyn- 
cracy, but also according to their power of modifying 
the magnetism of the body. It has been demonstrated 
that different rays have different chemical and magnetic 
effects, and therefore we may fairly infer that their re- 
spective operations on the nervous system must also 
differ. It is a pity that their influence on morbid mani- 
festations of the mind has not been more studied, since 
several circumstances favor the conclusion that the men- 
tal condition is greatly modified by color ; thus we find 
that red often violently excited those morbid beings who 
were subject to the dancing-mania, and that particular 
colors are apt to arouse the indignation of all maniacs. 
We observe, in this respect, a remarkable coincidence 
between mad persons and the state of infuriated animals, 
which are also rendered more outrageous by glaring 
colors, especially red. The taste for various hues was 
not less remarkable among the dancing devotees of St. 
Vitus than was their mad delight in music ; but the ex- 
citable Italians, in their tarantali, experienced very dif- 
ferent sensations from the phlegmatic Germans in their 
epidemic dance. The latter detested red, the former 



LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 143 

delighted in it. Their likings varied according to tem- 
perament and nervous condition. Some preferred yel- 
low, others black, while others again were so enraptured 
by green or blue as to throw themselves into the sea, or 
into rivers, in the delirious ecstasy of their enjoyment. 
Indeed, eye-witnesses describe this chromatic rage as 
altogether beyond their powers of expression. The 
patients rushed toward their favorite color, devoured it 
with eager looks, kissed it, caressed it in every possible 
way, embraced the colored article with the intense 
ardor of lovers, while the tears streamed from their 
eyes and rapturous language flowed from their lips ; in 
short, to use the words of Hecker, " they were com- 
pletely overwhelmed by the inebriating impression on 
their senses." 

There can be little doubt that in these cases the im- 
ponderable principle which is connected with sensibility, 
and which certainly has a marked relation to magnetism, 
was so altered, either by the mere action of the mind, or 
by some peculiar distemperment, as to be disturbed in 
an extraordinary manner by such things as in general 
scarcely excite the sensorium. Probably a state of nerv- 
ous system, not dissimilar, although more manageable, 
may obtain in those individuals who are remarkable for 
odd fancies as regards color : thus Dr. Johnson was 
unhappy in his studies except in a room with yellow 
curtains and walls, while the author of the " Night 
Thoughts" delighted in crimson, and Goldsmith luxuri 
ated in plum color. 

The experiments of Baron von Reichenbach throw a 
new light on this subject, since it appears from these, 
that the different colors exert decidedly different effects 
on the nervous state of a susceptible person. A spec- 
trum was thrown on a wall, and the subject of experi- 
ment placed in a dark room, holding a copper wire, fifteen 
feet long, in her hand, the other end of which was moved 



144 LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 

from tint to tint along the spectrum without her knowing 
what was done. Many experiments, which gave uniform 
results, showed that green and yellow especially excited 
" the delightful sunny feeling of refreshing coolness." 
The red produced a sense of heat — the violet ray and a 
point beyond it caused a peculiarly disagreeable sensa- 
tion. We can not but be struck with the circumstance 
that the maximum of light, the maximum of heat, and 
the maximum of magnetic power in the spectrum have 
each their peculiar action in the excitable nervous sys- 
tem. We know that the effect of daylight on the mind 
vastly differs from that of any artificial light, probably 
from their respective constitutions as respects the pro- 
portions of color. The light of a common lamp is just 
the reverse of sunlight, the former being — red, eight ; 
yellow, five ; blue, three : and the latter — red, five ; 
yellow, three ; blue, eight. I know a sensitive person 
in whom the light of a lamp produces pain in the back of 
the head, although the brightest sunshine excites no such 
effect. The remarkable influence of moonlight may 
probably be traced to some peculiarity in its composition.- 
Its magnetic effects certainly differ much from those of 
direct sunlight, and hence probably it promotes coldness 
and putrescence, and, of course, it may also excite pecu- 
liar changes in the nervous power, thus accounting for 
its well known influence on lunatics and on nervous in- 
dividuals. 

The phosphorescence so frequently seen at sea has 
also a strange effect on the nerves. A competent ob- 
server, who had extensive opportunities of witnessing its 
sublime and beautiful appearance, states that he could 
read by this light, but that the attempt almost always 
produced headache and sickness. 

These facts indicate the propriety of considering the 
influence of light on the body in health and disease ; 
for undoubtedly much remains to be discovered concern- 



LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 145 

ing its agency, in connection with life and nervation, 
which will aid society in the pursuit of wisdom and hap- 
piness. 

We happily possess the power of modifying light as 
regards the color diffused in our apartments, by an ap- 
propriately colored medium through which it may pass ; 
and all who can should consider the subject, not only in 
relation to the preservation of sight, but also to tran- 
quillity of mind, for both morals and intellect are deter- 
mined in a great measure by the relation of our nerves 
to light, and the character of our enjoyments in regard 
to color. This observation may appear to some readers 
as rather too refined, but its meaning will be brought 
home to their understandings when they reflect on the 
influence of light, on physical development, and in mod- 
ifying disease. A tadpole confined in darkness would 
never become a frog, and an infant, being deprived of 
heaven's free light, will only grow into a shapeless idiot, 
instead of a beauteous and reasonable human being. 
Hence, in the deep damp gorges and ravines of the Swiss 
Valais, where the direct sunshine scarcely reaches, the 
hideous prevalence of cretinism startles the traveler. It 
is a strange, melancholy idiocy. Many cretins are inca- 
pable of any articulate speech; some are deaf, some blind, 
some labor under all these privations, and all are mis- 
shapen in almost every part of the body. 

I believe there is, in all places, a marked difference in 
the healthiness of houses, according to their aspect with 
regard to the sun, and that those are decidedly the 
healthiest, ceteris paribus, in which all the rooms are, 
during some part of the day, fully exposed to the direct 
light. It is a well known fact, that epidemics frequently 
attack the inhabitants of the shady side of a street, and 
totally exempt those of the other side ; and even in en- 
demics, such as ague, the morbid influence is often thus 
partial in its action. Sunshine is also essential to the 
If 



146 LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 

perfection of vegetation, and the water that lies in dark- 
ness is hard, and comparatively unfit for drink ; while 
the stream that bears its bosom to the day, deposits its 
mineral ingredients, and becomes the most suitable sol- 
vent of our food. In small-pox, and other eruptive 
diseases, the tendency to form pustules is diminished by 
the patients being kept in darkness. 

But the influence of light on the nervous system can 
not be more forcibly exhibited than in its effects on that 
terrific disease, hydrophobia. While light is excluded, 
the patient can sometimes swallow with comparative 
facility, and as long. as no bright object is presented all 
the spasmodic phenomena of the malady are more easily 
controlled. It is curious that bright obj ects also frequently 
threw the votaries of St. Vitus into convulsions. There 
must exist in all such disorders an exalted irritability, a 
degree of which is perhaps also experienced by the in- 
ordinate student, when, like Milton, he exclaims, 
" Hide me from day's garish eye." 

This intolerance of light seems generally to arise 
from irritation of the brain, induced by excessive use of 
the eye ; more especially from any such employment as 
demands a nice discrimination of sight, and at the same 
time a powerful effort of mind. It is important, there- 
fore, for all persons so engaged, to take due precautions 
to avoid cerebral excitement, and by all means to relieve 
the eye when fatigued. Rest is the natural remedy. 
Those who pore over books should either have the power 
of qualifying the degree and color of the light admitted 
to their study, or else use tinted glasses, taking care, 
however, not constantly to wear them of the same color. 
Gray, blue, and green, are the most suitable shades, but 
of course the choice should depend on circumstances, 
such as the effect on the sight, and the color of the ob- 
jects chiefly before the eye. Whatever is disagreeable 
in this respect is always more or less injurious. 



LIGHT IN RELATION TO LIFE. 147 

The following passage, in which philosophy is felt to 
be one with poetry, will aptly introduce us to another 
chapter : 

But let my due feet never fail 

To walk the studious cloister's pale, 

And love the high-embowed roof, 

With antique pillars massy proof, 

And storied windows richly dight, 

Casting a dim religious light : 

There let the pealing organ blow 

To the full-voiced choir below, 

In service high and anthems clear, 

As may with sweetness, through mine ear, 

Dissolve me into ecstasies, 

And bring all heaven before mine eyes. 

Milton 



CHAPTER X. 

THE INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

The transition from light to music is natural and easy ; 
the relations between them are striking. This truth may 
be demonstrated by a simple experiment. If we press 
the finger on the eye, luminous appearances are excited, 
which present a remarkable analogy to the figures pro- 
duced by sonorous vibrations. When a plate of glass 
covered with water is struck with the bow of a violin, 
the water not only divides into vibrating segments and 
parts which remain at rest, but the water on the vibrat- 
ing parts of the glass presents a most regular distribution 
into rhombic figures and stationary waves, and the figures 
excited in the eye call to mind the appearance of decus- 
sating waves. (Muller.) I find that powerful sonorous 
vibrations cause undulations of light before my retina. 
It appears also that certain states of the optic nerve may 
produce impressions of sound ; thus Milton writes, that 
11 on the gradual failure of his power of vision, colors 
proportionately dim and faint seemed to rush out with 
a degree of vehemence and a kind of noise." 

It is observed that those individuals who are unable 
accurately to distinguish colors are also usually defective 
in the power of discriminating musical notes. From 
these circumstances w T e may infer that there is some 
medium common to the senses which is influenced when 
either of them is excited, and that it is connected with 
the w T hole sensorium in such a manner, that impres- 
sion on any part arouses the whole. Hence we account 



INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 149 

for the awakening of all the nervous system, as from 
healthy sleep, when any division of that system is dis- 
turbed, and thus we explain the sympathies peculiar 
to it. The senses all mutually affect each other, and 
the use of either of them almost invariably suggests to 
the mind certain objects which belong to the others 
also. Thus we can understand how it happens that 
undue indulgence in any sensuality captivates and en- 
chains the whole being, and renders a man a bond-slave 
to the adopted habits of his own body. The completion 
of his mental and moral character is determined by his 
prominent physical enjoyments, toward the gratification 
of which all his pursuits will necessarily tend; and the 
soul that knows no superior delights can never be weaned 
from those of the flesh ; so that he may well be described 
as incapable of freedom, and as if led by evil spirits at 
their will. 

The effect of music on the lower creatures is often 
very striking, as it seems to operate upon them by 
awakening uncontrollable instincts and sympathies, and 
thus demonstrates that it acts upon the nervous system 
with vast power, although it give rise to no sentimental 
associations. Sir W. Jones testifies to the credibility of 
the story, that while a lutenist was playing before a 
large company in a grove near Schiraz, the nightingales 
vied with the musician until they dropped on the ground 
in a kind of ecstasy, from which they were roused by a 
change in the music. An officer confined in the Bastile 
found himself surrounded by hundreds of musical ama- 
teurs, in the forms of mice and spiders, whenever he 
played on his lute. 

The charming of serpents by music is proverbial, and 
in the East persons are employed to rid houses of ven- 
omous snakes, by causing them to come out of their 
holes at the sound of a flute. The negroes catch lizards 
by whistling a tune to attract them. 



150 INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

Doubtless some creatures are endowed with a power 
of discerning and enjoying sounds which are altogether 
unheard by others, and it is suggested that some may 
be impressed even by the different vibrations of light, 
so as to enjoy them as we do music. In short, all ani- 
mated beings are, according to their conformation, in- 
fluenced more or less by sonorous vibrations. Hence 
the diversified language of nature, and the felt signifi- 
cance of all her innumerable voices. There is some- 
thing intensely beautiful in the fact, that all creation is 
alive to the expression of feeling ; for thus is indicated 
some deeper mystery of relationship between all sen- 
tient beings. It seems to say that the Creator has 
fashioned all his creatures with regard to sympathy, 
and that each in his degree is interested in some ulte- 
rior purpose of Omnipotence. 

The effect of music on the human mind is influenced 
by association and memory. Delicacy of perception, 
a kind of intuitive appreciation of tones and vocal ex- 
pression, distinguish those who are gifted with musical 
genius, and they are liable to be possessed by the spirit " 
of harmony to such a degree as to be entranced in a 
rapturous delirium more dreamy than the visions of an 
opium-eater. This rapture is a kind of abstraction, 
which those only know whose hearts are exquisitely 
sensitive, whose affections have been tried in fire, whose 
intellect has been expanded and sublimed by sympathy 
with suffering, and whose spiritual faith has grown 
mighty in the struggle after satisfaction. They seem 
to listen until they hear voices uttering the language 
of a higher sphere ; they catch the calm ecstasies of 
heaven ; and they look abroad upon the universe, as if, 
like the sons of the morning, they saw a new creation 
evoked from darkness into the harmony of light by the 
breath of Deity. This intellectual delight in music is 
never felt but by those whose sensibility is of an order 



INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 151 

to need such refined consolations. The divine benev- 
olence is thus seen in qualifying those who are most 
susceptible of pain for the richest enjoyments which 
sense can afford. The vulgar delights of music are 
vastly inferior, and but as the responses of nerve to the 
vibrations of the air, without any but the lowest mental 
association. A singing bird in a cage is as spiritual as 
the majority of singers, and many a Hottentot, with a 
soul in tune, has more taste for the chaste and lovely 
than many a cultivated pianist. 

There is some correspondence between musical notes 
and nervous action ; hence music exerts a healthful and 
exhilarating influence on certain conditions of the body, 
more especially those in which the manifestations of the 
mind are deranged. In the Auxerre Asylum, many 
insane persons have been restored to reason by a right 
use of music ; and it is stated in the reports of the 
Lancaster Lunatic Asylum, that music and dancing are 
very beneficial in securing quiet and natural repose. 
Of course, the music must be adapted to the case, and 
the sensibility of the nervous system. A man like 
Mozart, who even when a child would turn pale at the 
sound of a trumpet, and become almost convulsed at a 
harsh discord, could be soothed only by a music and a 
touch like his own. 

There is every reason to believe that the effects of 
music are of a more palpable kind than is commonly 
imagined. Wo ought not to be laughed at if we refer 
to the authority of ancient writers on this subject; for 
we should remember that their conceit did not alto- 
gether obscure their power of observation, as is too 
often the case with some moderns. Democritus tells 
us that many diseases may be charmed away by the 
melody of a flute, and Asclepiades treated sciatica suc- 
cessfully with the obstreperous notes of a trumpet ; and 
what is worthy of remark, he states that the malady 



152 INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

did not disappear unless the part trembled in sympathy 
with the sound. Now this observation is not ridiculous, 
since it is evident that any powerful vibration which may 
affect the brain through the ear will also influence the 
pulses of the nervous current as it passes into the muscle, 
and probably excite it to a newly measured action. 

There can be no doubt that music alters the action of 
the mind's readiest instruments, and it must, therefore, 
modify the operation of the brain on all the body. We 
feel this, for as often as, with a free mind, we hear a 
lively air, it excites pleasurable emotions, and a dispo- 
sition to dance. The luxury of music, however, may 
be indulged to excess, and, as it is manifestly capable of 
acting violently on the nervous system, an enthusiastic 
pursuit of it may easily disorder the brain ; in fact, we 
find that mad musicians, by no means rare, are the 
maddest of the mad. They are, however, the more 
numerous in consequence of other habits ill suited to 
persons of nervous refinement. 

The effect of music on the moral nature can scarcely 
be more fully expressed than in the words of good old 
Bishop Beveridge, who thus speaks of the influence of 
music on himself: — " It calls in my spirits, composes 
my thoughts, delights my ear, recreates my mind, and 
so not only fits me for after-business, but fills my heart 
at the present with pure and useful thoughts ; so that 
when the music sounds the sweetest in my ears, truth 
commonly flows the clearest into my mind, and hence 
it is that I find my soul is become more harmonious by 
being accustomed so much to harmony." This fine- 
hearted Christian seems to have indulged his passion for 
music a little to excess ; for he adds, " The least jarring 
sounds, either in notes or w T ords, seem very harsh and 
unpleasant to me." This, of course, is naturally the 
consequence of a highly cultivated ear ; but w T e know 
that inordinate enjoyment of any kind, either renders 



INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 153 

the nervous system intolerant of common impressions, or 
otherwise produces an obscurity of perception. Abuse 
of the body always tends to insanity in some form ; thus 
a mau may disqualify himself for the society of earth by 
anticipating the harmonies of heaven, and agitate his 
soul with a perpetual discord by unsocially seeking to 
dwell in the soft raptures of Cecilia. 

The power of music, however, seems to depend on 
its exciting the nervous energy in a remarkable manner, 
not merely as that energy is connected with the organ 
of hearing, but also as it pervades the whole body, and 
may be properly regarded as a more refined body in 
itself; in short, perhaps, the spiritual body in distinc- 
tion from the physical. This principle, or energia, 
seems to be in close relation to music and light; for, 
undoubtedly, it is this which is moved by their respect- 
ive vibrations. If, therefore, this principle, associated 
with life, adheres to the thinking being in its transit 
from the body at death, a sufficient medium and cause 
of perception will still exist, as regards both sound and 
sight. Thus light and music will still instruct and 
delight the hopeful spirit in its appropriate sphere. 

Travelers inform us, that the Arabs are in the habit 
of teaching goats to stand with their feet close together 
on the top of several little blocks of wood. The man- 
ner in which they accomplish this feat beautifully illus- 
trates the influence of modulated sound on the muscular 
system, as it appears that, however long the goats may 
have been used to this exhibition, they succeed only 
during the playing of a tune. If there be any alteration 
in the movement or time the goat begins instantly to 
totter, and the moment the music closes the goat falls. 
A similar effect is felt by dancers on the tight-rope, and 
no doubt a ball-room would be thrown into vast con- 
fusion if the music of the dance were suddenly changed ; 
the step would be disordered, and every muscle em- 



154 INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

ployed would require an extra effort of will to prevent 
the whirling waltzers from dashing against each other 
or falling to the floor. Probably we may the better 
understand the influence of music in soothing the irri- 
tated brain by reflecting on this connection of the nerve- 
power with the voluntary muscles. Strong emotion 
and intense thought seem to concentrate the vis nervosa 
within the brain ; but music, operating through the 
most intellectual of our senses, the ear, diverts the mind 
from its work, and thus allows the current of energy to 
revert to the muscles with redoubled power. Hence it 
happens that, after much mental application, we feel the 
pleasure of action the instant we turn our attention from 
mere thoughts. This is more especially the case if, at 
the moment, a brisk and enlivening measure should strike 
upon the ear. 

There seems, indeed, to be an antagonism between 
muscular action and certain forms of mental disorder 
induced by moral causes, or by injudicious efforts of the 
will to accomplish more than the nervous system is well 
qualified to bear. Hence the various kinds of dancing- 
mania, which, in successive ages of the world, have 
puzzled physicians. These, although frequently excited 
into action by music, as in the case of the St. Vitus' s 
dance, were nevertheless cured also by violent and long 
continued exertion in dancing. Felix Plater (1641) in- 
forms us that the magistrates hired musicians for the 
purpose of carrying the St. Vitus's dancers the more 
quickly through the attacks, and directed that athletic 
men should be sent among the people to complete the 
exhaustion of the patients by continuing the dance, as 
it was found that the mental disorder was thus most 
effectually relieved. The cure of that equally remarka- 
ble infatuation, tarantulism, was effected in a similar 
manner. But, with regard to this subject, it is well 
worthy of observation, that the rudest peasantry, and 



INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 155 

those who were entirely ignorant of music, evinced an 
unusual degree of grace and elegance in dancing while 
under the peculiar excitement of this strange malady ; 
for it appeared as if all the organs of motion were in a 
new condition, and completely under the control of the 
enraptured soul, which could obtain no ease but in music 
and dancing. Probably, on this principle, we may be 
able to account for the strange conduct of certain cele- 
brated men, such as Bourdaloue, who was accustomed to 
allay the excitement of his mind after the composition 
of his eloquent sermons by very uncanonical behavior. 
His attendants were one day mightily scandalized and 
alarmed by hearing a very lively tune played on a fiddle 
in his room, while they waited without to accompany 
him to the cathedral. They peeped through the key- 
hole, and what was their consternation to behold the 
great divine dancing about in wild undress to the inspi- 
ration of his own music ! Soon after he met them in a 
manner becoming his character ; but observing signs of 
astonishment in the party, he explained that without his 
dance and his music he would have been incapable of 
his public duty. 

Every individual has a mental world peculiarly his 
own, since each for himself interprets all the impressions 
of his senses according to the character and constitution 
of his mind. But habit modifies the manifestation of 
self, and imparts a new bias to the soul by bringing it 
under the dominion of sympathies and other associations. 
The truth of these observations can not be more strikingly 
demonstrated than in the effects of music upon different 
persons according to their temperament, which can 
scarcely be more powerfully expressed than by Sir T. 
Brown in the " Religio Medici :" " Even that tavern 
music, which makes one man merry, another mad, in me 
strikes a deep fit of devotion." 

This passage I quote from the Opium-eater, who re- 



156 INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

fers to it in evidence of his opinion that we enjoy music 
by a reaction of the mind upon the notices of the ear, 
the sense receiving the matter, the mind giving the form 
of our pleasure. This writer presents a good instance 
in his own person of the combined influence of mental 
habit with remarkable excitation of the brain in mod- 
ifying the enjoyment of music. He informs us that 
when fully possessed by the delirium arising from a 
large dose of opium, he was in the habit of going to the 
Opera, where the elaborate harmony displayed before 
him, as in a piece of arras- work, the whole of his past 
life, t; not as if recalled by an act of memory, but as if 
present, and incarnated in the music ; no longer painful 
to dwell upon, but the detail of its incidents removed or 
blended in some hazy abstraction, and its passions exalt- 
ed, spiritualized, and sublimed." 

The best music is that of the human voice, because it 
is intended to express the character of our emotions, and 
to awaken in others a consciousness of the affection 
which we feel. Every note of every instrument corre- 
sponds with some tone of utterance belonging to the Ian- - 
guage of human passion, and is therefore capable of 
rousing that part of our nervous system through which 
the feeling is naturally experienced and expressed. It 
strikes a chord in tune with the soul. I do not recollect 
any incident more beautifully elucidative of the fact, that 
modulated sounds thus stir up the whole being by pas- 
sionate suggestions, than the statement so well present- 
ed by Hoi man, the blind traveler, concerning his feelings 
on hearing the opera of the " Barber of Seville," at 
Florence. He says, " I can not resist stating the extra- 
ordinary effect produced upon me by the singing of the 
prima donna. I thought I would have given the world 
to have seen her pretty face and figure. The tones 
and expressions of her voice appeared, however, to con- 
nect themselves in my mind by pure sympathy with ex 






INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 157 

act delineations of her person and attitudes, and to ex- 
cite the most powerful desire to possess the power of 
vision which I ever recollect to have experienced since I 
had the misfortune to lose it. I heard, I felt, I saw, or 
imagined I saw, every thing which words, actions, or 
gestures could convey. I rose, I leaned forward, and 
felt an almost irresistible impulse to spring upon the 
stage, to ascertain whether my ideas were illusive or 
real ; and, what may be thought still stranger, my desire 
to see appeared to originate in a wish to convince myself 
that I could not see. I may be thought to overcharge 
this picture with too vivid or affected sentiment ; but I 
can assure the reader that it contains only a small por- 
tion of the exquisite feelings which I experienced." 

It is very probable that the effect was heightened by 
his imperfect knowledge of the language, as well as by 
his total blindness ; for " the less you understand of a 
language, the more sensible you are to the melody of its 
sounds ;" because, in fact, by listening to the sentiment 
expressed in words, we lose that of the mere music. 

The universal disposition of human beings, from the 
cradle to the death-bed, to express their feelings in meas- 
ured cadences of sound and action, proves that our bodies 
are constructed on musical principles, and that the har- 
monious working of their machinery depends on the move- 
ments of the several parts being timed to each other, and 
that the destruction of health, as regards both body and 
mind, may be well described as being put out of tune. 
Our intellectual and moral vigor would be better sustain- 
ed if we more practically studied the propriety of keep- 
ing the soul in harmony, by regulating the movements 
of the body ; for we should thus see and feel that every af- 
fection which is not connected with social enjoyments, is 
also destructive of individual comfort, and that whatever 
tends to harmonize, also tends to promote happiness and 
health. There is every probability that a general im- 



158 INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

provement in our taste for music would really improve 
our morals. We should indeed be more apt to detect dis- 
cords, but then we should also be more ready to avoid their 
causes, and should not fail to perceive that those feelings 
which admit not of cheerful, chaste, and melodious ex- 
pression, are at war with both soul and body. A whole- 
some musical education is perhaps a necessary part of high 
religious cultivation, and it will be far more valuable to 
children, than the catechistic familiarity with great truths, 
which, being committed to memory as a task, are, alas ! too 
apt forever after to be associated with dark ideas, instead 
of directing the soul to the Maker of illuminated worlds. 

But music may be either mawkish or manly ; heaven- 
ly or infernal. All enjoyments are of use, but they de- 
mand a wise discretion to use them ; for " delightful 
measures" may terminate in " dreadful marches ;" and 
"the lascivious pleasings of the lute" may supersede the 
solemnities of the universe, and draw the soul in among 
the Sirens beyond recall. 

The benevolence of our Creator is most beautifully 
manifested in the fact, that we are made to be moved by 
cadence, rhythm, and time. These, as well as intona- 
tion, express conditions of mind. The utterance of feel- 
ing naturally falls into syllabic arrangement as well as 
appropriate tone, in keeping with the state of the organ- 
ization excited by the feelings. Thus, poetry is an imi- 
tative mode of presenting affections, so that he who either 
reads or writes, utters or listens, may equally feel the 
effect without being aware of the cause. A solemn state 
of feeling is unavoidably expressed in slow and majestic 
measure, the syllables succeeding each other with state- 
ly deliberation, as we witness in the majesty of Milton's 
language, when he discourses of things erst unattempted 
in prose or rhyme. But when the soul rejoices in its own 
lively conceptions, the syllables dance along in that quick 
hilarity which, in unrestrained society, would throw the 



INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 159 

limbs into vigorous motion, and prompt the sanguine 
spirit to exclaim — 

" Come and trip it as you go 
On the light fantastic toe." 

Thus the eloquent man, speaking right out from the 
fullness of his heart, stirs up the nerves of his hearers, 
not only by the annunciation of his thoughts, but also 
with the intonations of his voice ; the feeling which 
measures and supplies his language, causes his words to 
flow rhythmatically forth in just that order which best 
conveys and communicates the passion which inspires 
him. 

As in both sights and sounds there may be a want of 
harmony, amounting to a most painful sense of discord, 
so we find some persons so unnatural in their mode of 
expressing themselves, that we can only account for 
their oratorical distortions by supposing their entire phy- 
siology out of joint and unfit to be actuated by beautiful 
sentiments. Some preachers, instead of winning the 
souls of those who listen to them, by begetting a holy 
sympathy, may utter the greatest wisdom, and be filled 
with truthfulness and pathos to a sublime degree, but 
still produce only a feeling of their artifice, if not of their 
hypocrisy. Such orators, however, only labor under a 
mistake. They are not apt to teach, they are only apt 
to think themselves to be so. They feel earnestness, but 
perhaps not exactly when they try to show it. Many an 
honest enthusiast betrays the insobriety of his thoughts 
by his false emphasis, both of utterance and action. 
Such men may give vent to much truth of the highest 
order, but they feel it amiss, and, instead of its flowing 
like a living stream from a full fountain, it fitfully bubbles 
and bursts out, as if connected with some volcanic irregu- 
larity, instead of being fed by the dews of heaven. Such 
teachers produce disorderly hearers, a broken, noisy, 
coarse congregation, and a flock much disposed to wander 



160 INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

at its own rude will, with high notions and low feelings. 
Their speech betrays them, for a vulgar familiarity takes 
the place of Christian simplicity ; and they dispute dog- 
matically, and engender strife, where the quietness of 
a wise faith would diffuse peace and charity. Their 
whole conduct and conversation is inharmonious, full of 
violent contrasts, which grate upon the moral sense as 
much as their untuned voices grate upon the ear. Their 
style is altogether like that of an ill composed book, which 
has but little to recommend it in the nature of its con- 
tents ; and which, instead of being printed in good taste, 
is full of ignorant attempts, by outrageous pointing, dashes 
and stars, to enforce the attention of the reader, though 
he will find nothing in it worthy his study. In short, it 
is evident that discordant methods of speaking, acting, 
thinking, and writing, however apparently precise, are 
still unnatural, being the result neither of sane brains nor 
sound morals. Even the truth, when conveyed in an 
inappropriate manner, becomes distorted and disfigured, 
like a beautiful face in a bad mirror. Let it not, how- 
ever, be imagined for a moment that wisdom speaks not 
always with a commanding voice. She possesses a might 
which often exhibits itself the more forcibly through the 
feebleness of the instrumentality she employs. Her 
most uncouth advocate acquires the force of the truth 
which he feels, and however bad a man's oratory may 
be, his simple enthusiasm, the spirit which inspires him, 
will cause his body and life to speak, not in words only, 
but also with communicable power. If, therefore, we 
would reap the best advantages of Providence, and fit 
ourselves to derive from society its noblest pleasures, we 
must be taught in the school of God, and exercise our 
endowments in a becoming manner, without affectation, 
without constraint, since we shall thus be qualified to 
impart, while we receive delight. 

Oratory and music are closely related, and both are 



INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 161 

more intimate with poetry than is commonly supposed, 
for words and ideas are all connected in some measure 
with time and intonation ; and their ready association is 
due to that power which puts our muscles in motion, 
and so excites our nerves that we are conscious through 
them of successive impulses. All impressions on the 
body appear to be vibratory, and every idea seems to 
awaken in the very substance of the soul a note 01 
chord peculiar to itself; hence the repetition of a by-gone 
sound arouses it again, as a current of the same force 
renews the exact vibrations in the iEolean harp while 
strung the same. The familiar voice calls into new life 
a thousand buried thoughts, and a word spoken by one 
whose tone was familiar to childhood, causes avast vision 
of old scenes to spread out before the eye of age. With 
one who from blindness has been long accustomed to de- 
pend on the ear for more than its proper share of exer- 
cise in seeking enjoyment and intelligence, the memory 
of sounds is, of course, most remarkable. Dr. Kitto re- 
lates, that he accompanied his grandmother to her native 
place, where she had not been for thirty-six years. " She 
was speaking," he states, " to some persons on the green 
certainly before her name had transpired, when an old 
half-idiotic blind man, who sat in front of his cottage, 
startled them all by calling out in an eager voice, c Is 
that C. M. that I hear ?' mentioning a name which she 
had ceased to hear for thirty years." With that re- 
membered voice no doubt many youthful associations 
returned in their freshness to the old man's soul, for 
into its paradise age never enters. How mightily such 
facts teach us our dependence on habit and society, and 
even on seemingly accidental sounds. The notes of the 
Marseilles hymn produced the same effect as its words, 
and the exiled Swiss, at the sound of that simple air, 
ag*»n saw before him those he loved, while he pined for 
hi mountain home with a longing which destroyed him. 
11 



162 INFLUENCE OF MODULATED SOUND. 

And thus, too, it is with the man familiar with holy 
truths ; his associations carry him far away from the 
confused warfare of this world ; the highest harmony 
belongs to another sphere, and in his estimation the best 
music of earth serves only to introduce us to that of 
heaven. Nor can there be a finer application of music 
than to assist the dying man to raise his thoughts to the 
home of harmony and light. I knew an excellent phy- 
sician, who, having been infected through a wound while 
examining a body that died of a malignant disease, soon 
discovered such symptoms in himself as warned him 
that he must speedily pass away from earth. He, there- 
fore, sent for a pious friend to sing and play the harp in 
the next room, until his spirit should be liberated. This 
was done ; the darkness of death seemed not able to 
enter there ; not a groan was heard, and the believer 
" fell asleep in Jesus," with the music of that name 
within his soul. 

O, may we soon again renew that song, 

And live in tune with heaven. Milton. 



CHAPTER XI. 

MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

The infant lying in the cradle, twisting its tiny fingers 
in the sunshine, and laughing as if the light were play- 
ing with them, seems to take hold on Heaven, thus re- 
vealed in the unity of love and light. The weak crea- 
ture falls helpless on Almightiness, as upon the arms of 
the parent. How gently does He deal with it ! By 
little and little the young immortal becomes aware that 
it has been using the universe as its plaything. The 
sun, the moon, and the stars, and all the wondrous ob- 
jects of this world, are so gradually familiarized to the 
soul, that unless some deep words of divine truth be 
whispered into the ear, as from the heart of a praying 
mother, the child will know nothing of the Creator, but 
in its very passion for pleasure will adore creation, as all 
it can love, or from which it can hope to receive enjoy- 
ment and intelligence. Dr. Kitto, in his interesting and 
excellent volume on Deafness, quotes the following 
passage from a little book called, " La Corbeille de 
Fleurs," concerning the childhood of Massieu, the cel- 
ebrated deaf-mute, who was instructed by Abbe Sicard. 
" In my childhood," says Massieu, " my father made me 
make my prayers in gestures, evening and morning. 1 
threw myself on my knees, I joined my hands, and 
moved my lips in imitation of those who speak when 
they are praying to God. At present, I know there is 
a God, who is the creator of heaven and earth. In my 
childhood, I adored the heavens, not God. I did not 
see God, I did see the heaveas." The following con- 



164 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

versation is most interesting : " What were you think- 
ing about while your father made you remain on your 
Knees?" " About the heavens." "With what view 
did you address to it a prayer?" " To make it descend 
at night to the earth, in order that the plants which I 
had planted might grow, and that the sick might be re- 
stored to health." " Was it with ideas, words, or sen- 
timents, that you composed your prayer ?" " It was 
the heart that made it. I did not yet know either words 
or their meaning or value." " What did you feel in 
your heart ?" "Joy, when I found that the plants and 
fruits grew. Grief, when I saw their injury by the 
hail, and that my parents still remained sick." At these 
last words of his answer, Massieu made many signs, 
which expressed anger and menaces. " The fact, as 1 
have been informed," says the narrator, " was, that 
during his mother's illness, he used to go out every 
evening to pray to a particular star, that he had select- 
ed for its beauty, for her restoration ; but finding that 
she got worse, he was enraged, and pelted stones at 
the star. l Is it possible that you menaced the heav- 
ens ?' said we, with astonishment. 'Yes.' * But from 
what motive ?' 'Because I thought that I could not get 
at it to beat it, and kill it, for causing all these disasters, 
and not curing my parents.' ' Had you no fear of irri- 
tating it ?' 'I was not then acquainted with my good 
master, Sicard, and I was ignorant what this heaven 
was. It was not until a year after my education was 
commenced that I had any fear of being punished by it.' 
1 Did you give any figure or form to the heavens V ' My 
father had made me look at a large statue which was in 
the church of my country. It represented an old man 
with a long beard ; he held a globe in his hand. I 
thought he lived above the sun.' 4 Did you know who 
made the ox, the horse, etc. ?' ' No ; but I was curi- 
ous to see them spring i^>. Often I went to hide my- 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 165 

self in the dykes, to watch the heaven descending upon 
the earth, for the growth of beings. I wished much tc 
see this.' " From these curious facts we may learn sev- 
eral important truths. From sight alone, and perhaps 
even from our muscular sense, we may obtain a notion 
of superior and extraneous existence with power over 
us. Yet we suppose intuitively that this power is to be 
actuated in some way by the expression of our own 
wills, and if it yield not to our desire, then a feeling of 
wrath or a painful sense of unfitness and incongruity 
arises from the non-fulfillment of a natural expectation. 
We see, also, the dependence of our enjoyment on 
sympathy, not only with those whose kindness causes 
us to love them, but even with inanimate things, such as 
plants and flowers, in short, with whatever pleases us. 
We see, too, that revenge is the ignorant expression of 
disappointment and vexation. It also appears that we 
naturally feel confident that there is a power above to 
help, but not to injure ourselves, and that fear of retri- 
bution is a feeling acquired from a knowledge of moral 
responsibility, or from the experience of injury. The 
idea of a God, that is, of a ruling power, seems also to 
be instinctively associated with the human form, proba- 
bly because it alone duly represents mind in operation 
as in ourselves. Thus, among the first questions which 
the benevolent skill of the lady, known to the public as 
Charlotte Elizabeth, enabled the deaf-mute, whom she 
educated, to put to her was, whether she had made the 
sun and the moon. 

We may easily from hence perceive how idolatry is 
apt to take precedence in all attempts at formal worship 
among the ignorant, and that because they can not limit 
the possibility of power in human manifestation. 

The gift of sight and the world of form and color, 
belonging to this sense, in an especial manner declare, 
as in the full light, that God loves us ; for everywhere 



166 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

the mind that is not perverted by a pitiable depravity, 
beholds something to gratify and ennoble it. And the 
purpose of education, and of the word of God, is to 
bring our faculties into such a state of control that we 
may be able to draw our attention from evil commu- 
nications, and fix it upon the grand visible facts of na- 
ture and of Providence. All truth is beautiful. Could 
we but view this wondrous world with a pure eye, we 
should be overwhelmed with such a sense of perfection 
as to hate whatever would suggest a thought derogatory 
to the glory of God or the dignity of man. This, how- 
ever, notwithstanding the enchantments of poetry, is 
impossible at present. We must witness perfect man- 
hood, and perfectly sympathize with it, before the soul 
will be wise enough to enjoy beauty to the full. When 
we are thus filled with God-love, we shall possess finer 
tastes and sensibilities than the highest classic descrip- 
tions ever inspired. But contrasts and opposites must 
exist in nature, to instruct us to reason by engendering 
doubt; for before we can rightly decide, we must inquire. 
Where there is no choice, there is no freewill. Good 
and evil are alike requisite to our growth in character, 
and the darkness of night is as necessary as the light ot 
day, in order to reveal the might of our Maker ; and 
many parts of creation must be rendered unpleasant to 
us, that we may mentally travel onward in search of the 
perfectly good, or be enabled to seek rest in the faith of 
the soul, rather than in the impressions of sense. 

If we dwell a little in thought upon the phenomena 01 
sight, as regards their influence on our minds, we shall 
be better able to appreciate the value of sensation gener- 
ally, and the goodness of the Power that qualifies us 
to interpret nature, by changes taking place in the or- 
ganism pervaded by our souls. We must remember 
that the field of vision is altogether a mental conception ; 
for without the use of our other senses, and a power of 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 167 

judging between their intimations, we could not per- 
ceive distance. Without this sense, we should receive 
only an indefinite feeling of individuality, and perceive 
just enough of the external world to be conscious of con- 
tact. The sense of touch being the chief medium of 
knowledge in the blind, they usually attend more to its 
indications than do those who enjoy sight; and it is 
said that they sometimes become, by use, so sensitive to 
the peculiarities of tangible objects, as even to discrimi- 
nate between different colors. This influence of habit 
and attention on the power of sense is a beautiful proof 
that our perceptions are due rather to the soul than the 
body, inasmuch as one being employs all the senses, 
and chooses acccording to circumstances which he will 
attend to. Such is our nature, that when we have expe- 
rienced sensation in its different kinds, we scarcely ever 
after attend to the objects of one sense without associa- 
tions with the objects of other senses being awakened. 
Thus the enjoyment of music arises in a great measure 
from the rapid succession of ideal visions it suggests, 
while the sight of a good picture begets vivid ideas of 
action and of discourse. While we look upon the sea, 
we fancy we hear its murmurs ; and when, at the sight 
of a shell we only imagine its native abode, and close 
the eye, the mind beholds the billows sparkling in the 
sunshine, and the gallant ships dashing them aside as 
tf proud of their banners and array. 

There is no end to the benevolent arrangement by 
ivhich our mental associations are maintained ; but we 
may judge somewhat of its nature by considering how 
our attention is called from object to object, and from 
idea to idea. If we examine the causes of our pleasure 
in viewing a number of natural objects grouped together, 
we shall find that much of it is due to the power of asso- 
ciation and mental habit. Let us test this statement by 
gazing at a variety of figures and colors arranged in 



168 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

order, but without formality, as in architectural orna- 
ments, such as flowers and arabesque. The attention 
being directed to one point after another in rapid suc- 
cession, a sort of life-like impression is received, and 
we are put in mind of such a variety of actions, that 
fancy becomes so bewildered by her own creations, that 
a strong effort of the w T ill is required to prevent our 
yielding to the emotions excited. Thus memory mingles 
with sight, and the past becomes present. The senti- 
ments induced will be painful or pleasant, according to 
the previous habit of the will and understanding. The 
operations of the intellect, and the associations of imagi- 
nation, are, indeed, directed and determined by the habits 
of a man's life, for the objects presented to the eye al- 
ways engender thoughts in keeping with his prominent 
affections. We delight in serene and solemn mazes of 
beauty, in quiet faces, clear colors, infinite lights, and 
infinite shadows, w T hen the soul is accustomed to dwell 
in peaceful and religious abstractions, because this tem- 
per of mind is nursed by heavenly hopes that interpret 
mysteries to us in the language of love, and lead us " 
along through vistas of sublime visions, always ending, 
as they begin, in high and holy thoughts, calm and 
silent as the light of stars. But vulgar, sensual minds 
know nothing of this pleasure. Beauty never conducts 
them to heaven. Were they stationed on the Alps, and 
could they see the sun rise upon the world as if upon a 
new creation, the grandeur of clouds decked in rain- 
bows, the rosy ocean of vapor, with many mountain 
tops rising around like islands of light, the profundity, 
the sublimity, the combination of the lovely and ever- 
lasting, and whatever of beautiful in form and hue the 
light of heaven might reveal, would not elevate uncul- 
tivated minds beyond their own chaos. Superstitious 
fear, indeed, may be there, turning light into darkness, 
from which ignorance would be glad to be called away 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 169 

by any trifle ; but the spirit of religion pervades not the 
soul with her blissful peace, until faith in the perfections 
of God associates the mind with the infinite. Then we 
behold the steps of light by which the angels visit earth ; 
on the bare brow of the mountain a vision of beauty and 
glory surrounds us, and we exclaim, this is the house of 
God, the gate of heaven ! 

That we read both nature and art, not according to 
our intelligence merely, but rather according to the state 
of our moral feelings, is well demonstrated in books of 
travels. It is really most interesting, and not less in- 
structive to compare the descriptions of the same objects 
by different writers. Lord Lindsay, in his " Letters 
from the Holy Land," affords us a passage to the point : 
" I do not like the Corinthian ; the ' airy pillar' and the 
decent matron grace of the Ionic are far lovelier, far 
purer, far holier; the Doric and Ionic remind one of 
Adam and Eve, as they walked in naked innocence, and 
in all their original brightness, through the bowers of 
Paradise ; but the spirit of the Corinthian is meretri- 
cious : this is fanciful, perhaps, but oh, there is a deep 
poetry, a hidden melody in architecture — 'frozen music,' 
as it has been called ; but it thaws now and then, when 
the fancy warms, and discourses most eloquently to the 
eye and ear." No doubt Lord Lindsay's heart was at 
home when these thoughts sprung up from it ; and had 
he not been in mental association with some refined 
feminine soul, the " frozen music" would never have 
flowed harmonious to his fancy. 

The mind forms images for itself out of the multitu- 
dinous actions of the nerve-matter involved in sight, 
whenever the mind is using this matter, that is, when- 
ever attention is so directed as if employing the eye. 
Dr. Gregory, Professor of Chemistry in the University 
of Edinburgh, relates an illustrative and interesting case 
in the " Phrenological Journal" (Jan. 7. 1845). A. 



170 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

lady suffering from influenza complained that, when in 
bed with her eyes shut, she saw objects of most vivid 
colors, and in the most distinct forms. The doctor 
tried to modify her impressions by pointing to different 
parts of her skull, after the manner of phreno-mesmer- 
ists, and he found some coincidences which seem to 
confirm the phrenological notions concerning the loca- 
tion of the faculties. On being asked, while her eyes 
were closed, what she saw, she replied, " Beautiful 
colors." The doctor then placed his finger over color, 
without making any remark. She instantly said, "All 
the colors are gone;" but then added, " they have come 
back— how exquisite !" He then placed his finger on 
number, she immediately exclaimed, " I see the room 
full of the most brilliant rainbow colors ; there must be 
millions of them." He then touched order, when she 
said, "I see a multitude of the most beautiful patterns of 
all colors, like the figures in a kaleidoscope." Size being 
touched, caused the exclamation, " Oh, what a beautiful 
cathedral, with beautiful colored windows ! I can not 
see to the end of it." 

This lady knew something of the general outline of 
phrenology, and might therefore have had ideas sug- 
gested to her mind, by pointing to the organs ; but 
whether she sympathetically caught the design of the 
experimenter or not, we have no reason to doubt the 
honesty of her evidence as to the fact of these visions 
being excited by certain states of the brain under the 
direct operation of the mind, which certainly possesses 
the faculty of forming its perceptions irrespective of 
present impressions on the senses. 

Dr. Gregory states that in this case the results were 
always equally distinct in the excitable organs ; while 
the non-excitability of the others was quite unexpected, 
and, in fact, disappointed him a good deal. 

I have witnessed a case somewhat analogous in an 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 171 

hysterical young lady, who had wearied her brain and 
eyes by peering day after day into the pattern of her 
brilliant Berlin work. Here the visions spontaneously 
shifted through all imaginary changes ; at one time as 
full of flowers as a horticultural show, and at another 
as full of faces as a crowded theater ; but still, what- 
ever forms appeared, a rainbow radiance seemed always 
to clothe the whole field of vision. The ideas were 
modified by external impressions, but the oddest modifi- 
cation was, that a number of fierce cats seemed to ap- 
pear, whenever a bell rang. The mind created its own 
visions through that part of the brain which had been 
inordinately used, the other parts remaining compara- 
tively unexcitable. Probably the brain of Dr. Gregory's 
patient had been partially wearied and rendered morbid 
in a similar manner. We know that the nervous struct- 
ure, subservient to sight, may be so exhausted by over- 
action under the demands of the will, as for days after 
to present confused spectra, according to the nature and 
color of the objects on which the eye had been exerted. 
These phenomena result from the reaction of those 
parts of the brain which had been fatigued, under the 
renewed excitement of the mind in using it while wea- 
ried. Sleep and change of employment are the natu- 
ral remedies for this morbid state. A gentle stimulant 
more effectually serves to divert attention from such 
phantasms than either narcotics or sedatives, and per- 
haps the best stimulant is brisk exercise, in a pleasant 
place, with a cheerful companion. 

The connection of these abnormal states of the brain 
with dreams is obvious ; but yet no imaginable condi- 
tions of brain will account for certain visual impressions 
which occasionally occur in sleep. A person well known 
to me Qi earned that he was alone in a certain church- 
yard, amusing himself, as he had often done, by reading 
the quaint epitaphs, in the light of the setting sun. A 



172 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

new grave attracted his attention. At its head was a 
remarkable stone, on which he distinctly read the date 
of death and the name of the deceased ; it was that of a 
dear friend, whose company he had that evening enjoy- 
ed. Such a dream was sufficiently painful to impress 
his memory very strongly, but deeming himself too 
philosophic to be moved by such a circumstance, he cast 
off the impression, or thought but little of it, until seven 
months afterward, when the death of his friend, at the 
very date he had dreamed, startled his philosophy. If 
we consult the works of those who have written on this 
subject, such as Dr. Abercrombie or Macnish, we find 
they relate a number of such marvelous coincidences, 
and really speak of them as if they were easily account- 
ed for. Thus, a young lady of Rosshire dreams that she 
sees her lover slain on a certain day at Corunna. The 
event happened exactly as she dreamt. Dr. Macnish 
dreams of the death of a relative, three hundred miles 
off. Three days after he hears that his dream repre- 
sented the truth, although there had not been the slight- 
est anticipation of any such an event. Mrs. Griffiths 
wakes from her sleep, screaming out, " The boat is 
sinking — save them !" She was uneasy about a pro- 
posed fishing party, of which her husband was to be 
one ; thus the dream was quite natural ; so she quietly 
fell asleep again ; but soon she awakes up in terror, 
saying, " The boat is going down !" This of course 
arose from the former dream; therefore she composed 
herself a third time to sleep, but quickly starts up in ag- 
ony, exclaiming, " They are gone — the boat is sunk !" 
Her husband, a major in the army, caught alarm, and 
excused himself from his engagement ; but the rest of 
the party went, and were all drowned. Such cases, of 
which multitudes might be collected, are among those 
most easily attributed to mere coincidence ; but we will 
take another, for the accuracy of which Dr. Abercrom- 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 173 

bie vouches. Two sisters were sleeping together in 
a room communicating with that of their brother, when 
the elder of them awoke in a state of great agitation, 
and, having roused the other, told her that she had had 
a frightful dream. " I dreamt," she said, " that Mary's 
watch stopped ; and that, when I told you of the cir- 
cumstance, you replied, ' Much worse than that has 

happened, for ? s breath has stopped also ;' meaning 

their brother, who was ill. The following night the 
very same dream occurred, followed by similar agitation, 
which was composed, as on the previous occasion, by 
finding the brother in a sound sleep, and the watch go- 
ing well. On the next morning one of the sisters was 
sitting by her brother, while the other was writing a 
note in an adjoining room. When her note was ready 
for being sealed, she was proceeding to take out, for 
this purpose, the watch alluded to, which had been put 
by her in her writing-desk — she was astonished to find 
it had stopped. At the same moment a scream was 
heard in the other room — the brother, who had been 
considered going on favorably, had been seized with a 
sudden fit of suffocation, and had just breathed his last." 
I might refer to cases in which the perpetrators of 
crimes have been discovered by dreams, or to instances 
in which marked advantages to individuals or to society 
have resulted. In such cases it might be argued that 
there was sufficient cause for supernatural interference ; 
but how can we believe that prescient dreams have been 
permitted without any apparent purpose ? I have quo- 
ted these cases with the intention of showing that, as 
we can no more explain those dreams that are manifestly 
beneficial, than we can those seemingly useless, we 
must refer to something beside our estimate of their 
value for their occurrence. Theories of chance, coin- 
cidence, and association are at fault, and only prove our 
presumptuous unwillingness to acknowledge entire igno- 



174 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

ranee of the right causes of mental action. If a pre- 
scient faculty be proved, then the human mind is evi- 
dently capable of deriving immediate instruction from 
superior intelligence without the use of mere sense ; 
and if the soul can distinctly and correctly behold facts 
before they really occur, then it is evident that to the 
soul appertains the future as well as the past; and it 
can not be the result of material changes, since it may 
realize the ideas of circumstances before the circum- 
stances themselves exist. 

There is another form of supersensuous vision, for 
the existence of which we can scarcely discover suffi- 
cient reason, unless to intimate an undeveloped faculty 
which, in another state, may be proper to man. The 
nature and character of this strange endowment will be 
best expressed in the language of one who believed him- 
self to be possessed of it. Heinrich Zschokke, a man 
remarkable for the extent of his honorable labors as a 
statesman and an author, solemnly writes the following 
passage in his autobiography: "It has happened to me 
sometimes, on my first meeting with strangers, as I 
silently listened to their discourse, that their former life, 
with many trifling circumstances therewith connected, 
or frequently some particular scene in that life, has pass- 
ed quite involuntarily, and, as it were, dream-like, yet 
perfectly distinct, before me. During this time I usu- 
ally feel so entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the 
stranger's life, that at last I no longer see clearly the 
face of the unknown wherein I undesignedly read, nor 
distinctly hear the voices of the speakers, which before 
served in some measure as a commentary on the text of 
their features. For a long time I held such visions as 
delusions of the fancy, and the more so as they showed 
me even the dress and emotions of the actors, rooms, 
furniture, and other accessories." He was at length 
astonished to find his dream-pictures invariably confirm- 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 175 

ed as realities, and he relates this instance as an exam- 
ple of his visionary gift : " One day, in the city of Wald- 
shut, I entered an inn (the Vine) in company with two 
young students. We supped with a numerous company 
at the table d'hote, where the guests were making very 
merry with the peculiarities and eccentricities of the 
Swiss, with Mesmer's magnetism, Lavater's physiogno- 
my, etc. One of my companions, whose national pride 
was wounded by their mockery, begged me to make 
some reply, particularly to a handsome young man who 
sat opposite to us, and who had allowed himself extra- 
ordinary license. This man's life was at that moment 
presented to my mind. I turned to him, and asked 
whether he would answer me candidly if I related to 
him some of the most secret passages of his life, I know- 
ing as little of him personally as he did of me. He 
promised, if I were correct, to admit it frankly. I then 
related what my vision had shown me, and the whole 
company were made acquainted with the private history 
of the young merchant — his school years, his youthful 
errors, and, lastly, with a fault committed in reference 
to the strong-box of his principal. I described the unin- 
habited room with whitened walls, where, to the right 
of the brown door, on a table, stood a black money-box, 
etc. A dead silence prevailed during the whole narra- 
tive, which I alone occasionally interrupted by inquiring 
whether I spoke the truth. The startled young man 
confirmed every particular, and even, what I had scarcely 
expected, the last mentioned. Touched by his candor, 
I shook hands with him, and said no more. He is, prob- 
ably, still living." 

We possess no means of testing the truth of such 
statements, and every reader must judge of the testi- 
mony according to the character of his habitual faith. 
Reference to such matters could not be fairly avoided in 
a work like the present, more especially since the sub- 



176 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

ject bears so directly on the credibility of those numerous 
relations, received from all quarters, concerning the ex- 
altation of faculty exhibited by susceptible individuals 
while under the influence of animal magnetism ; but I 
shall content myself with observing, that it is at least 
quite as difficult to explain how it happens that such a 
number of independent witnesses should agree in their 
evidence, supposing it to be false, as to account for the 
facts, supposing them to be true. 

Seeing that the equilibrium of repose is disturbed by 
internal influences, entirely unknown to us, and that 
changes may be effected in the brain by which the mind 
may have entirely new conceptions, apart altogether 
from objects of sense, and perhaps be directly influ- 
enced, — that is, without even the intervention of pecu- 
liar states of brain, — there can be no reason why cer- 
tain individuals, under superior direction and operation, 
should not be instructed in truths beyond common per- 
ception, and be enabled, under some spiritual law or 
power, to interpret ordinary impressions in keeping 
with peculiar moral states, and in manners naturally 
new and incomprehensible. No doubt the prophet and 
the seer of old were informed by higher mind to under- 
stand common objects in uncommon relations, and to use 
their eyesight with a judgment illumined by the light of 
futurity. Even the poet so looks upon facts as that the 
past and the absent form one picture with the present, 
in which imagination perceives a world to come ; and 
every act of reasoning by which we infer one thing 
from another, is due to a power that arises, not out of 
our organization, but belongs to an intuitive perception 
of congruity and fitness. 

Every visible arrangement exerts a peculiar effect on 
the mind, by producing a corresponding change in the 
nervous matter through which we see ; but yet that the 
state of mind preceding the impressions received on the 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 177 

retina modify their influence, is manifest from the fact 
that imagination, as before observed, gives distinct shape 
to uncertain forms, and converts a dim and obscure ob- 
ject into a defined likeness of whatever either fear or 
desire may induce. Thus, a man walking alone in the 
twilight is apt to suppose he sees what exists only in 
his mind as a thing likely to be seen where he then 
happens to be. This arises from the mental action 
exciting a peculiar condition of nerve. None but those 
who believe in ghosts ever see any. Brutus, being a 
Platonist, under the excitement of a bad conscience, in 
darkness and in solitude, could well realize his evil 
genius, although perhaps he only dreamed of its pres- 
ence. Dreams are, doubtless, the frequent cause of a 
confirmed faith in apparitions ; for, in highly imaginative 
persons, the visions of slumber are often so powerfully 
impressed on the brain that the optic nerve presents, 
even to the awakened sight, the visible form of what 
was only imagined or remembered. Thus Sir H. Davy 
relates an instance in which a dream was so strongly 
impressed on his eye, that even after he had risen and 
walked out, he could not be persuaded of its unreal 
nature until his friends proved its reality impossible. 
His brain was then probably in a diseased state, ap- 
proaching to that of insanity ; for his case only differed 
from mental derangement, so far as that he was still 
open to conviction by the reason of others, when his 
own faculties of comparison failed to correct his judg- 
ment. This kind of mental delusion may become epi- 
demic and contagious. There is good reason to believe 
that a multitude of persons may, under similar circum- 
stances of excitement and attention, and under the same 
motives, imagine they see precisely the same objects. 
Thus the Roman army saw Castor and Pollux in the 
van of battle, and the vision of St. George conducting 
them to conquest was no uncommon sight with the su- 
12 



178 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

perstitious crusaders. Dr. Laurent informs us that a 
whole regiment, under his own observation, dreamt the 
same dream at the same time, and all started up at once, 
declaring that a black dog had jumped upon their breasts 
and disappeared. It is exceedingly remarkable that the 
same thing happened again on the following night. Dr. 
Laurent attempts to account for the circumstance by- 
supposing some deleterious gas to have been generated 
in the monastery, in which the singular incident occur- 
red. But whatever the agency might have been, the 
difficulty is to explain how it operated on such a large 
number at the same moment. The explanation appears 
to be found in the fact, that they had all heard that the 
place was haunted at a certain hour; and although they 
felt no apprehension while awake, yet, when asleep, 
their souls were stirred together with affright at the 
approach of the anticipated moment. It is the preroga- 
tive of faith to behold invisible things, but the difference 
between a true faith and a false is all that exists be- 
tween an enlightened reason and a bewildered fancy, the 
creation of God and that of a demiurge. 

Like the patterns seen in the kaleidoscope, the broken 
images of the past reappear in ever varying forms at 
every turn, and memory conjures up the visions of our 
imagination, in reverie and dreaming, by scattering these 
fragments before us, which by some mysterious law are 
rearranged into new pictures. This mosaic- work of 
the mind is probably, in some measure, determined by 
the state of the retina, and of that part of the brain sub- 
servient to sight, for it is usual in diseases of those or- 
gans to find the most vivid scenes suggested to the mind 
by the changes taking place in them. Yet it is indis- 
putable that the nature of the objects perceived, depends, 
in a great measure, on the previous habit of the mind. 
Goethe has recorded some facts in his experience which 
confirm this remark. He says: "When I closed my 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 179 

eyes and depressed my head, I could cause the image 
of a flower to appear in the middle of the field of vision ; 
this flower did not for a moment retain its first form, 
but unfolded itself, and developed from its interior new 
flowers, formed of colored and sometimes green leaves. 
These were not natural flowers, but of fantastic forms, 
although symmetrical as the rosettes of sculptors. The 
development of new flowers continued as long as I de- 
sired it, without any variation in the rapidity of the 
changes. The same thing occurred when I figured to 
myself a variegated disk." Miiller, the physiologist, 
contrasts this experience with his own, for he also fre- 
quently saw different figures when he lay quietly down, 
but they never presented the slightest tendency to a 
symmetrical development. We may account for the 
difference by the circumstance that Miiller confined his 
attention to actual objects as a physiologist, while Goethe 
was accustomed to exert all the creative faculties of the 
poet and the painter. Imagination was the world of his 
will, and fancy was constantly picturing new ideas before 
the eye of his mind, or developing into new forms of 
beauty those with which he was familiar. 

Nor is it uninstructive to remember that Goethe, 
when best able to give a type to the phantasms of his 
mind, was intent on theorizing concerning color and 
form. His visions were rather the result than the cause 
of his study, and he mentally saw what he wished. 
Probably in his case, as in the case of those presented 
with less agreeable visions, some degree of congestion 
existed in the brain, as we find that a certain position 
favored the ideal floral creation. He was, moreover, as 
much addicted to the inordinate use of his stomach as 
of his brain, and therefore it is not surprising that both 
his senses and his passions were subject to unusual ex- 
citation, for it is invariably found that causes which dis- 
turb sensibility also promote emotional disorder. 



180 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

It is probable that ideas or remembered impressions 
are always accompanied by a state of the sense similar 
to that in which the impression of the object recalled 
was first received, and hence it happens that when the 
brain is disturbed by disease, memory becomes confused 
and the order of association is broken ; ideas interfer- 
ing with objects and objects with ideas, just as the sen- 
sorium may be fitted to respond either to the mind or 
to the senses. The mind seems to reflect its impres- 
sions back through the brain to the senses in the same 
manner as it received them. That images seen in dreams 
are really impressed on the organ of sight any one may 
be satisfied who will accustom himself to open his eyes 
immediately on waking from a dream. The images 
dreamt of continue visible for some time if the attention 
be not called to other objects. This phenomenon ac- 
counts for many wonderful stories of specters and hob- 
goblins which are so apt to haunt the dreamy souls of 
those who, corrupted by evil communications, make their 
senses but the ministers of superstition. A multitude 
of instances in which peculiar states of health have fa- 
vored the production of remarkable impressions on the 
senses, are fully related in Dr. Hibbert's work on the 
Philosophy of Apparitions, and also in Sir Walter Scott's 
work on Demonology and Witchcraft. The case of 
Nicolai, the Prussian bookseller, is often quoted. He 
was visited by a great variety of busy phantasms which 
he could scarcely distinguish from reality, for they blend- 
ed with the company into which he entered in the 
most amazing and natural manner. They appeared to 
him as distinctly as if they were alive, exhibiting differ- 
ent shades of flesh color in the uncovered parts, and 
great variety in the colors and fashions of their dresses. 
It is remarkable that he also imagined he heard their 
voices when they seemed to be talking to each other. 
These strange visitors ceased their annoying familiarity 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 181 

on the use of means calculated to restore the brain to a 
healthy state. In this case the visions were quite in- 
voluntary ; but Blake, the painter, seems, according to 
Cunningham's memoirs of him, to have possessed the 
power of calling up such phantasms at will, though still 
they sometimes so mastered his judgment that he con- 
founded them with realities. He was in the habit of 
conversing with angels, demons, and heroes, and taking 
their likenesses, for at his request they in general sat 
very patiently until he had transferred them to paper. 
To oblige a friend, he summoned Sir William Wallace 
to sit for his portrait, and had proceeded for a consider- 
able time, with the steady care of eye and hand so ne- 
cessary to one who would take an exact likeness, when 
suddenly he exclaimed, u Edward the First has stepped 
in between him and me !" So he took a portrait of Ed- 
ward too ; but how far he succeeded in taking his veri- 
table effigies we are not informed, although, doubtless, 
intelligence on this point would help us to a theory oi 
ghost-seeing somewhat clearer than any we possess. 

From all the foregoing facts we discover that the mind 
possesses the faculty of conferring distinctness of form 
and arrangement on the confused gleams of impression 
perceived in the nervous structure when diseased, and, 
of course, we can in this manner account for the strange 
phantasms of delirium and madness, when the soul, 
being intently busy with these inward suggestions, 
ceases duly to regard those objects of sense by compar- 
ison with which the delusion might be rectified. In the 
milder forms of delirium and insanity, this power of 
correcting fancy by appeal to sense is retained, and the 
most successful mode of treating them is to employ the 
faculties in an outward manner, by engaging the mind 
on objects demanding the use of all the senses, while, 
at the same time, the health of the body is suitably re- 
garded. 



182 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

When the eye is, so to speak, obliged to fast from the 
pleasant and familiar objects endeared to the soul, a pe- 
culiar state of brain is induced, by which all the senses 
are marvelously disturbed. The following words of 
Milton haunt the memory of most readers: 

Of calling shapes and beckoning shadows dire, 
And airy tongues that syllable men's names 
On sands and shores and desert wildernesses. 

Mask of Comus. 

The prevalent superstitions of the Arabians are prob- 
ably here referred to, for these people, while wandering 
in the desert, are apt to have their imaginations called 
into excessive activity by the absence of all those objects 
which through their senses may awaken social sympathy. 
Delirium under these circumstances takes the place of 
natural perception, especially when the nervous system 
is exhausted by fatigue and the feeling of loneliness. 
Thus we may easily account for the many authentic tales 
of travelers being seduced by goblins to wander from 
their path to perish in despair. On the same principle 
the superstitions of the American Indians may also be 
explained. When a lad is arrived at the period of life 
to choose a tutelary deity for himself, he retreats into 
the depths of some vast solitude, and there fasts and 
dreams, until he thinks the "Kishe Manito" (the Al- 
mighty) selects for him some object, such as that of a 
snake or a bird, by which he is to represent the form of 
his presiding spirit or personal god, and this he wears 
always about him, and to this he addresses his prayers 
as an intercessor through which his vows must pass be- 
fore they can reach the fearful Lord of all things. The 
impression on the retina seems to be merely suggestive, 
the idea conceived being determined by mental state and 
condition, as exemplified by insanity and the influence of 
imagination on the sight. As an instance of this power, 
Lord Lindsay relates that his fellow-traveler, Mr. Ram- 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 183 

say, a man of strong sight, and by no means superstitious, 
when crossing Wady Araba, in momentary expectation 
of encountering the Jellaheens, distinctly saw a party of 
horse moving among the sand-hills, although their actual 
presence there was impossible. He, however, could not 
divest himself of the impression that he had seen them, 
so strong is the power of fancy when excited by unnat 
ural solitude, and the absence of accustomed objects. 
Fixing the eye for a long time on the same spot, with 
the intention and expectation of seeing some definite ob- 
ject, may very probably have the effect of so disturbing 
the optic power, especially in children, that the confusion 
of impressions or visual sensations thus produced may, 
under the action of the mind, cause objects seemingly to 
appear as expected. The monotonous enchantments of 
the Egyptian magicians, mentioned by Mr. Lane and 
others, were probably so far successful on this principle, 
for we find that those degenerate magi employed boys 
to look into a spot of ink on the hand, until they fancied 
they saw before them, and were able to describe, per- 
sons who were named. This mode of magic is most 
likely to favor that state of nerve which may be called 
self- mesmerism, and which Mr. Braid, of Manchester, 
has fully and familiarly demonstrated to be capable of 
inducing all those mental phenomena called phreno-mes- 
merism. 

It would be exceedingly interesting to trace in detail 
the influence of the faculty of interpreting impression, 
according to certain laws of order and arrangement, for 
we should probably thus discover many important facts 
concerning the operations of memory and imagination, 
and the subjection of our moral nature to things of sense. 
But it is a subject worthy of a distinct treatise, and it 
can only be indicated in this place. According to these 
laws, even the flashes of light in the brain of the blind 
man seem, as we have seen, to run into forms of beauty, 



184 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

and we know that the shapeless coruscations of the au 
rora borealis are, by vulgar minds, that have heard oi 
horses of fire and chariots of fire appearing in the sky, 
described and doubtless perceived with such distinctness, 
that the listener almost imagines he too beholds the 
movements of embattled hosts upon the plains of heaven. 
This involuntary disposition to give resemblances to all 
visible things is probably essential to the exercise of our 
reason, and although imagination may interfere with 
judgment, by her wilder and more licentious suggestions, 
yet it is by her aid that we observe analogy, associate 
objects, and draw comparisons. It is also a vast help to 
memory, and the artificial system of mnemonics might 
probably be carried into more successful practice if it 
were constructed on perfectly natural principles, that is, 
if words and their meanings were embodied in pictures 
of natural objects, or, at least, associated with form and 
color, instead of being only an additional artifice to bur- 
den the mind. Dr. T. Arnold became a most admirable 
historian and geographer in consequence of his memory 
being assisted in youth by pictures and dissected maps. 
He himself attributes much of his clear insight into ge- 
ography to familiarity with the flags of different nations. 

Scenic representations certainly form the most forci- 
ble and natural means of awakening attention, and giving 
distinctness to memory, and therefore, when managed in 
a suitable manner, they would be divested of danger, and 
rendered most available toward the advancement of edu- 
cation. 

Whatever suggests the appearance of living action is 
most agreeable and enduring in the mind. Our knowl- 
edge is intended to be associated with our feelings. Hence 
it is difficult to teach children the rudiments of language 
without associating even the forms of letters with their 
ideas of actual life and motion. Every lesson should te 
on objects. God's works and man's are what we have to 



MENTAL ACTION JN THE U*E OF SIGHT. 185 

learn, and lie whose mind dwells in books without famil- 
iarity with things, lives in a dream; his reason is unset- 
tled, he has no true faith, for the world of true faith is 
a true world full of great facts of a palpable kind, which 
none but madmen would dispute about Hence the im- 
portance of familiarity with physical science, and the pos- 
itive operations of mind on mind, and the grand events of 
providence and history, to the formation of a true philos- 
opher. 

Natural objects seen in natural order are far better re- 
membered than what is merely heard ; and yet if we 
properly attend, we generally retain the fact stated in a 
lecture much more distinctly than those related in a book 
which we only curiously read, and this seems to arise 
from our imaginations being more called into action to 
realize what we hear than what is merely presented to 
us in printed words ; for spoken language is natural, and 
excites our nerves sympathetically according to intona- 
tion of voice, but letters are altogether artificial and con- 
ventional, requiring an effort to interpret them ; so that 
to enjoy books thoroughly, it is necessary that the reader 
should be quite habituated to reading, and accustomed to 
constrain his mind to idealize. The prolonged attention 
to minute objects, as in print, is itself disturbing to the 
faculties, and requires a long labor to overcome its evil 
effects. Indeed, it is not improbable that great readers 
are invariably awkward and untoward men, because the 
habits of their minds are unnatural, that is, without prop- 
er sympathies, and some of their faculties benumbed by 
too constant a use of their eyes on print, instead of hu- 
man faces, and the many eloquent objects of nature. 
The unnaturalness of reading is seen in the vast difficulty 
experienced in educating by this means, through the me- 
dium of books, those persons who have not been accus- 
tomed to apply the eye to the discrimination of minute 
objects. Even the children of such persons from hered- 



186 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

itary formation are scarcely able, under the strongest 
motives, sufficiently to fix their attention on letters to 
learn them. This difficulty is especially observed among 
wandering tribes. Hence we learn the wisdom of that 
command, Go ye into all the world and preach. Bibles 
alone will never convert the nations. Men, with the 
spirit of its truths within them, must utter the glad tidings, 
for reading is a formal, cold, hard, and often unprofitable 
work, for which the millions have neither time nor pa- 
tience enough, and if they had, the truth in words still 
needs the life of the human voice and soul, in order fully 
to be felt and propagated sympathetically in all its force. 
The heavens excite our wonder by indefiniteness of 
extent and countlessness of objects. The beautiful is 
lost in the sublime among stars, because where order 
most prevails, yet there the infinite multitude of rolling 
orbs, " in number beyond number," appear to be dispos- 
ed without design, or as if flung from the hand of Om- 
nipotence into space, to find their places like the drops 
that compose a cloud. But our souls look for order and 
beauty. Darkness and indefiniteness alike confound us. 
That sense of awful mystery which we call a feeling of 
sublimity, necessarily overwhelms us when we can not 
trace the might of God in the arrangements as well as in 
the existence of the universe ; for where we behold not or- 
der, there we seem not to see the work of Him in whose 
providence we desire to trust, as on his power we must de- 
pend. On this account, as it appears to me, man instinct- 
ively endeavors to discover evidences of design as soon 
as he apprehends the existence of the Almighty, for he 
can not bear to feel himself at the mercy of a power that 
gives no proof of his benevolence. We naturally look for 
love in the works of Omnipotence, and we are not dis- 
appointed ; for light bears that name of our God inscribed 
on every ray ; and every form which it reveals, when ex- 
amined by reason, is found to signify the same. We gaze, 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 187 

therefore, on the spangled sky, and would fain pry into 
the countless charities of Heaven. We can not be content 
with doubt. We can not look into the nebula, and be satis- 
fied to suppose the galaxy of glory a chaos of light without 
creatures to enjoy it. The comprehensive telescope is 
at length contrived and erected. Reason has conquered, 
and the reluctant materials are obedient to the human 
mind, which exults with a vast joy in keeping with its 
vision, while beholding the confused clouds of glory resolv- 
ing themselves into systems of orderly worlds, which 
intuitive faith assures us must be teeming with happy 
dwellers. 

The notion, so common among pagan nations, that 
light proceeds from one source and darkness from an- 
other, appears to be very natural to minds uninstructed. 
When we consider the influence of all the visible glories 
of heaven and earth upon our own feelings, how easy is 
it to imagine goodness associated with the power which 
reveals a world of beauty, and evil with that which hides 
it from our sight, and brings darkness with its terrors 
close about us. And, indeed, were we left to gather 
our creed from nature alone, we might well worship the 
sun as our manifested deity ; but our happiness hangs 
on the brightness of a better glory, and on the word of 
Him who declares, I" am Jehovah, and there is none 
else; there is no God beside me ; I form the light and 
create darkness. Darkness and light are both alike to 
me. 

We are blessed with the power of imagining order 
where we do not at first perceive it ; and whether we 
regard the hosts of stars, or merely gaze in vacancy upon 
the broken outlines of more familiar objects, we involun- 
tarily conceive resemblances, and lines of beauty and of 
meaning among them. Thus the Chaldean shepherds 
crowded the heavens with the likenessess of things 
earthly ; and the poet, in his reverie, is 



188 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

Soothed with a waking dream of houses, towers, 
Trees, churches, and strange visages, expressed 
In the red cinders. Cowper. 

Here we see the connection between memory ;md 
imagination, and are assisted to understand how the 
mind, when not intent on outward objects with a definite 
purpose, or in fulfillment of any desire, takes suggestions 
from whatever the senses may offer through the brain 
to cany out the train of past impressions, and to mingle 
ideas into new combinations, so as to form fresh expe- 
rience out of old facts. We can not reflect on this ex- 
tensive subject without arriving at the conclusion, that 
there is a specific purpose and meaning in every form, 
however minute, and in every pattern, however intricate ; 
and that the image and color of every visible object have 
direct relation to some mind expressly created with fac- 
ulties to be impressed by such means. And not only 
so, but if we reflect on the wonders which the micro- 
scope has revealed to view in the minute and almost in- 
visible world of life, and consider that the smallest divi- 
sion of a crystal indicates its chemical composition by 
the disposition of its angles, we shall discover more and 
more reason to admire the wisdom that thus connected 
sight with knowledge. 

If we consider the countless amount of different beings 
on this earth, each gifted with peculiar sensibilities, and 
each provided with peculiar objects suited to its senses 
and its capacity of enjoyment, we shall partly understand 
why there exists such an infinite variety of forms, colors, 
perfumes, surfaces, and sounds, in nature. Every sen- 
sible property of matter is addressed to the sense of some 
creature, and is especially fitted for its pleasure. Not a 
" Flower is bom to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
Busy myriads are blessed where man never wanders. 
Thus, as, regards mere form and color, it is manifest 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 189 

that the insect tribes, for instance, distinguish each other, 
and their proper food and proper dwelling, by the obser- 
vation of differences in those respects perfectly micro- 
scopic. They keep in families, an(J are preserved in 
their appropriate places by instincts, dependent on pe- 
culiarities in form and color, so minute that the natural- 
ist can scarcely perceive them, even when best taught 
by science. Though the world of flowers and perfume 
is not created so much for man as for beings generally 
disregarded by him, yet he can not scrutinize a blossom 
without improving his sense of beauty, nor be influenced 
by a color, without some corresponding change in the 
state of his affections. Let not this observation be 
thought a refinement of fancy ; it is a fact, that man 
can not be intellectually acquainted with natural beauty 
without acquiring a clearness of spirit and a serenity of 
heart unknown to ignorance ; for thus, in truth, he be- 
comes familiar with the mind of God. Yet he who has 
not already learned, in a measure, to appreciate and 
enjoy the goodness of pure wisdom, has scarcely a 
proper taste for the science of nature. There is a sol- 
emn greatness in the pursuit which those dream not of 
who handle God's creatures merely for amusement ; 
they play like children with their shells and flowers, 
while the Maker of the universe invites them to look 
into the everlasting mysteries of his might. It is in 
studying the divine ways that we learn the divine 
will, and in humble intimacy with his works we see the 
wisdom and the blessedness of obedience to His word. 
Faith is the beginning of all knowledge ; and that man's 
understanding is sure to be good who does not expect 
intellectually to arrive at right conclusions, without hav- 
ing first set himself, with all his power and with the 
consciousness of supernatural aid, to keep his conscience 
clear both toward God and toward man. Thus faith 
becomes one with love, and love one with will. 



190 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

We comprehend form and color to a great extent with- 
out education, because they are created to suit our minds 
and to awaken our intuitive faculties ; but their influ- 
ence will, of course, be modified by habit. Attention, 
also, and the degree of fixedness with which we regard an 
object, will greatly affect our impressions, since it is a law 
of the power by which the retina acts, that objects should 
appear and disappear when gazed on intently. Here it 
should be observed, that the image of any object ordi- 
narily remains on the retina about the sixth part of a 
second, as may be proved by rapidly whirling a piece of 
lighted charcoal before our eyes. It gives the idea of a 
circular ribbon of light, because the image is retained dur- 
ing the whole revolution, if made within the specified time. 
Under certain conditions of the nerve, the impression is 
greatly prolonged. The images seen in a strong light 
appear, when we turn to other objects, in supplementary 
colors. Thus, if we look upon moving objects, such as 
the waves of the sea, until the optic nerve is fatigued, 
and then look at fixed objects, these will seem to be in 
motion, and their color too will be modified by the sup- 
plementary impression excited in the nerve. Thus, ocular 
spectra interfere with each other in a manner that well 
accounts for many startling stories among the ignorant 
and superstitious. We can easily imagine a devotee in 
his inane adoration, under the influence of a monotonous 
idea, and perhaps exhausted with fasting, gazing at the 
image of his idol-god, a mere misshapen mass of black- 
ened clay, until he can not turn away his eye to the clear 
sky without beholding a magnified and brilliant vision of 
his fancied deity. Who, then, shall cure him of his 
madness, without imparting to him a knowledge of 
natural laws ? To tell him his fancy deceived him, is to 
persuade him out of his senses ; he saw what he believes, 
while rational worshipers believe what they can not see. 
Certain wonderful appearances, supposed to be produ- 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 191 

ced by animal magnetism, may probably be accounted for 
on the same principle. The well known case of an in- 
telligent and highly gifted lady, as related by herself in 
the " Athenaeum," is peculiarly instructive. "Various 
passes were tried by Mr. Hall; the first that appeared 
effectual, and the most so for some time after, were 
passes over the head, made from behind — passes from 
the forehead to the back of the head, and a little way 
down the spine. A very short time after these were 
tried, and twenty minutes from the beginning of the 
seance, I became sensible of an extraordinary appear- 
ance, most unexpected, and wholly unlike any thing I had 
ever conceived of. Something seemed to diffuse itself 
through the atmosphere — not like smoke, nor steam, nor 
haze, but most like a clear twilight, closing in from the 
windows, and down from the ceiling, and in which one 
object after another melted away, till scarcely any thing 
was left visible before my wide-open eyes. First the out- 
lines of all objects were blurred ; then a bust, standing on 
a pedestal in a strong light, melted quite away; then the 
opposite bust ; then the table with its gay cover ; then 
the floor, and the ceiling, till one small picture, high up 
on the opposite wall, only remained visible, like a patch 
of phosphoric light. I feared to move my eyes, lest the 
singular appearance should vanish, and I cried out, ' O 
deepen it — deepen it !' supposing this the precursor of 
the sleep. It could not be deepened, however ; and 
when I glanced aside from the luminous point, I found 
that I need not fear the return of objects to their ordinary 
appearance while the passes were continued. The busts 
reappeared, ghost-like, in the dim atmosphere, like faint 
shadows, except that their outlines, and the parts in the 
highest relief, burned with the same phosphoric light. 
The features of one, an Isis with bent head, seemed to 
be illumined by a fire on the floor, though this bust has 
its back to the windows. Wherever I glanced, all out- 



192 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

lines were dressed in this beautiful light ; and so they 
have been, at every seance, without exception, to this 
day." Maniacs, in the commencement of their disorder, 
often perceive surrounding objects as if enveloped in fire, 
and this seems to arise from the intense excitement of 
the eye under undue activity of the brain, a state not un- 
likely to be induced by mesmeric stimulation, and per- 
haps by the accumulation in the cerebrum of that im- 
ponderable medium which seems to be the cause of 
sensibility. 

Professor Wheatstone has most ingeniously demon- 
strated that while binocular vision proves that though 
the impressions on both eyes are communicated sepa- 
rately to the brain, they are yet beyond question com- 
bined into one perception, not by union of nerve-fibers, 
but by unity of action in the mind itself. There is sin- 
gleness of sight, with duality of impression ; and the 
two eyes serve one purpose, as long as they can be 
equally directed to the same object; but, as they have 
different axes, of course we should always see double, 
if they were not voluntarily thus employed together on 
one thing at a time. We find that as soon as this men- 
tal control is interfered with by disorder of brain, such 
as that accompanying intoxication, objects are apt to 
appear double, as poor Burns says, when reeling home, 
like a noble spirit self-degraded, and undone by sympathy 
with vulgar joys — 

" The rising moon began to glow'r 
The distant Cumnock hills out owre ; 
To count her horns with all my power I set mysel ; 
But whether she had three or four I couldna tell." 

Thus all nature becomes an amusing confusion to the 
sensualist. 

The dizziness felt on ascending an elevation is a curi- 
ous evidence of the combined influence of mental state 
with bodily sensation. It is generally supposed to de- 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 193 

pend entirely on impressions received by the eye ; but 
Wilkinson, in his " Tour to the British Mountains," 
proves the contrary. A blind man ascended with him 
to the summit of one of the Cumberland mountains. 
To this person he described the fearful precipices visi- 
ble on every hand, but he soon repented of thus ex- 
ercising his picturesque discourse, for the blind man 
speedily fell to the ground, overcome with dizziness, and 
screaming out with apprehension of tumbling down the 
rocks, into the abyss below. This blind man was Mr. 
Gough, a highly philosophic and scientific man. The 
mind was here affected more powerfully than it would 
have been by the actual sight of what was described, 
because imagination exaggerated the picture, and en- 
hanced the idea of danger. The same part of the sen- 
sorium was affected by the imagined sight, even more 
than it would have been by the real. The dizziness 
may perhaps be explained by supposing the mind to 
possess the power of altering or disturbing the nervous 
currents by which we are enabled to estimate time, mo- 
tion, and distance. It is well known that when a man 
has been accustomed to ascend great heights, he loses 
the sense of dizziness, which can only arise from the 
difference in the state of his mind with regard to objects 
around him ; he ceases to attend to them as he did at 
first, and his apprehension leaves him, as he learns to 
balance himself, and trust to his hands and feet, under 
an accommodating muscular action, without the usual 
nelp from sight, which we know is the medium through 
which we instinctively preserve our center of gravity in 
standing and walking. 

A certain degree of attention to the use of the eye is 
essential to visual perception ; for if we are profoundly 
engaged in contemplating ideas, or even in listening to 
fine sounds, more especially if they awaken our passions, 
we lose sight of ocular objects, or behold only such as 
13 



194 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

fancy conjures up. When several objects are present- 
ed to the eye at the same time, as in complicated fig- 
ures with undefined or intricate outlines, a pleasing con- 
fusion is the result ; and unless we look attentively into 
the pattern, imagination and memory will supply resem- 
blances and ideas to occupy the place of that which is 
really before us. This fact was referred to in connec- 
tion with the vagaries of reverie, but it is one of very 
extensive application in the arts, and assists us to un- 
derstand the influence of many natural objects on our 
minds, since we perceive that a variety of angles and 
curvilinear figures may be so artfully distributed for or- 
namental effect, as to afford incessant occupation and 
enjoyment to all persons whose habits ana mental de- 
velopment will allow them properly to ooserve what is 
before their eyes. But this, indeed, is far from being 
quite a common endowment, for the power of observa 
tion under correct ideal associations characterizes minds 
of the highest genius, either for experiment, description, 
or design. It is, however, on the play of imagination, 
amid many undefined objects that much of our pleas- 
ure depends ; and on this principle the infinite diversity 
of forms and colors, interfering with each other, and yet 
harmonizing, tends to divert the soul from the visions of 
care, so apt to haunt the thoughtful, and, by withdraw- 
ing the attention from self, to fill it to overflowing with 
indefinite delights, by suggesting a thousand ideas of 
life, action, and happiness, with which all but the hope- 
less involuntarily sympathize. Hence the benefit to the 
mind of excursions amid green fields, gardens, woods, 
hills, and dales, or by the great sea, with its living waves 
and vastness, sparkling with sunbeams. The God of 
Nature invites the dispirited to meet him amid the 
beauty of his works, there to be taught, in gentle words, 
that almighty wisdom has created endless variety, to 
suit the tastes of innumerable intelligences, and to prove 



MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 195 



to man that he is not lost, or left alone to grope his way- 
through everlasting darkness, but everywhere to see evi- 
dences that his Maker has set his heart upon him, and 
would have him to learn from all nature's successive 
changes and inconceivable minutiae working together to 
great and infinite ends, that the God of creation is the 
God of patience and hope. 

Taste for beauty is, then, founded in physiology ; at 
least, it is manifest that our sense of harmony in color 
and form, as well as in sound, is due to our physical 
constitution ; of course meaning by this the adaptation 
of organized instruments to the innate faculties of our 
souls. All who have studied the function of sight, and 
the action of color on the retina, are well aware that 
there exists a tendency in the nervous power subservi- 
ent to vision, to take on complementary states of ac- 
tion. The three simple colors, blue, red, and yellow, 
being placed at the angles of an equilateral triangle, as 
in the annexed figure, we see at once what are the 
complementary colors, and that they result from a mix- 
ture of the rays of those primary colors which are next 
each other. * , 

Red. 



acv 




Yellow, 



Blue. 



Green, 



1&6 MENTAL ACTION IN THE USE OF SIGHT. 

Here, then, we discover something of the secret cause 
of our pleasure or displeasure in certain combinations of 
color. We find those hues are most pleasing to us in 
which the complementary and contrasting colors are so 
distributed as to prevent fatigue and confusion in the eye. 
Hence painters speak of the harmony and disharmony 
of colors. Few of us trace our enjoyments to their 
cause, but yet we are accustomed to talk with some de- 
gree of freedom of the tastes of our friends and acquaint- 
ances ; nor can we help observing that coarse minds are 
apt to betray themselves, not only by outre habits of ac- 
tion, and incongruous dress, as regards form, but also by 
glaring inconsistencies and outrages of good taste in the 
mixture of colors, with which they fancy they adorn 
themselves. Orange with blue in all its shades, lilac 
with yellow, red with green, every lady of taste knows 
harmonize well together, when neatly arranged ; but if 
she wear a dress of one predominant color, she will take 
care that it shall be subdued, and somewhat dull. The 
hideous combination of pure red with blue or yellow is . 
only fit for national standards and the regimentals of 
soldiers, to show that the harmony of truth is broken, 
and that we are ready to fight for the maintenance of 
discord and separation, rather than allow the harmoni- 
zing light, which is love, to reign over us. The rainbow 
in the cloud is the symbol of God's covenant with hu- 
manity ; and vain will be our attempts at union, until we 
feel that variety is essential to harmony. 

The practical deductions from the facts stated in this 
chapter are these : ideas are formed by the thinking be- 
ing which uses the senses, and this being has no right 
sense of either natural or moral beauty without the 
knowledge of truth. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 

If we doubt the value of pictures, let us ask the deal 
man what he thinks of them ; if we question the charms 
of music, we have only to look at " the blind fiddler." 
Undoubtedly the deaf and the blind respectively enjoy 
such objects as are appropriate to those senses which 
they possess, yet, nevertheless, it is probable that in 
order to a complete appreciation of music, the eye is 
useful, and the ear not without its value in a due esti- 
mation of painting, because both these organs of sense 
are constituted in relation to measured movements, and 
the harmony of action, as well as of mere sound and 
color. To a man who has been blessed with the per- 
fect use of both sight and hearing, and whose taste, both 
for visual and audible objects, has been properly culti- 
vated, it is certain that melody awakens sentiments 
which those who have never seen can scarcely conceive ; 
and an expressive and harmonious picture also is pro- 
ductive in the mind of such a person of a delight more 
exquisite than the born-deaf can apprehend. Milton 
could never have expected the ecstasies of harmony to 
have brought all heaven before his eyes had he not been 
accustomed to the visions which pure music awakens ; 
and the sight of a sunny picture, replete with living verd- 
ure, sparkling streams, and happy beings, would lose 
half its power to rouse our sympathies had we never 
heard the diversified utterances of natural bliss. The 
perfect education of the eye, for the purpose of search- 



198 COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 

ing after objects to gratify the mental appetite, demands 
those intimations of nicety of feeling which can only be 
communicated by the voice while under the influence of 
such feeling ; and the associations of living action and 
beauty are also essential to the fulfillment of all the pur- 
poses of harmony. But how cheering is it to observe that 
the deprivation of a sense, though it may not, as is general- 
ly imagined, lead, as a matter of course, to a finer percep- 
tion through other senses, yet it does not certainly hinder, 
but rather promotes a fuller and pleasanter occupation 
of the mind through those senses which remain in use. 
Hence we find that deaf persons are observant of nice 
peculiarities in form ; they busy themselves about visible 
minutiae, take in the particulars of scenes, and are apt, 
when assisted as they deserve, to experience special 
delight in such employments as may call forth the exer- 
cise of intellect through the medium of the eye. Hence 
books are their best friends, and the endless volume of 
nature, full of beauty and illuminated by Heaven, seems 
to them sufficient to fill the soul with satisfaction for- 
ever, because here they learn familiarity with the attri- 
butes of a power which they may trust as thoroughly as 
they can admire. They feel that the same intelligence 
which attuned the air and the ear to each other, speaks 
to the soul in the manifest harmony of form and color, 
since heaven corresponds with earth as distinctly in the 
visible as in the audible, and goodness and truth are seen 
as well as heard. 

The descriptions of the deaf are generally very minute, 
but never very poetical ; and this arises from the de- 
fective association between sights and sounds, on which 
so much of sentiment and suggestion depends. They 
are apt to embrace all that is seen, but to omit all the 
audible, all the voices of life, and hence all their dramas 
are pantomimes ; for alas ! all nature is dumb to them, 
at least as regards vocal expression ; but then here again 






COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 199 

we rejoice with them ; for if their powers of attention 
be properly cultivated, they certainly learn more readily 
and more deeply to understand the visible language of 
action, and the meaning written on the face of every 
living thing. Hypocrites had, therefore, better avoid 
the deaf, or their dark souls will be read through their 
disguises of light, for the deaf are good practical physi- 
ognomists, and are always keenly on the watch to dis- 
cover the meaning of the spirit in every movement of 
the body, and every feature of the face, for every soul 
seeks its highest interest in sympathy with others. 

The eye is the organ of our instinct for the beautiful 
and the true as regards personal excellence ; therefore, 
however much we may infer from the tone of voice, as 
to the existing feeling of a man, we derive our general 
impression of his character from his appearance, and 
hence it is that the first sight of a person often leaves 
such a prepossessing impression, either for or against 
him, as no subsequent intimacy with him will wholly 
efface. When the mind is kindled with the generous 
warmth of sanguine youth, life seems but the realization 
of romance, and the spirit is then most ready, with un- 
suspicious hope, to love with all the heart any individual 
who visibly represents any approximation to the beau 
ideal which every human heart forms for itself; hence 
an indomitable love at first sight is, perhaps, better 
understood by the deaf than by those who can correct 
the visions of eyesight by remembering the admonitory 
voices of proclaimed woes, although these, indeed, too 
truly are, in many cases, unavailing to check the im- 
pulses of unwarranted affection, for after all, our loves 
are always stronger than our fears, and humanity is 
proved to be not utterly lost, since it still confides in all 
it believes to be beautiful. 

Deformity is always painful to an amiable mind, and 
a face in which the hideousness of malignant passion 



200 COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 

predominates is well called frightful. It is intended to 
warn us to flee from evil in its evident consequence. 
But let us not mistake the lineaments of misery for those 
of malignity. Many a repulsive face speaks only of 
the sufferings of a beautiful soul conscious of being ill 
placed. By kindness we may make the most wretched 
beautiful. A sight of pure charity soothes the most 
perturbed and weary spirit, and animates the languid and 
haggard body with a new life, the full development and 
expression of which is visible happiness — that is, the 
amiability of a mind reconciled to Heaven by beholding 
and feeling its light. Thus it is that the human soul 
finds its own value, and follows its affinity for proper 
fellowship until it finds a place of peace, and a society 
whose only law is indwelling love, because the whole 
being of each there is transformed into the likeness of 
what each adores — God manifest. But woe waits the 
soul that is obliged to dwell where sights and expressions 
of aversion may become so familiar as to be tolerated, 
and perhaps in some sort maliciously enjoyed. It is 
thus that humanity loses its character, and dissolute 
minds learn to mock at misery by turning the causes and 
consequences of iniquity into occasions of ridicule and 
mad merriment. Surely the chambers of imagery in 
Pandemonium are filled with caricature and distortion, 
such as demons teach men to publish for the amusement 
of the godless, who find their perennial fountain of fun 
in the disorders of society, and call the absence of all 
loveliness and charity, wit and good-humor. Pure beauty 
and light doubtless mingle in the smiles of heaven's tran- 
quil inhabitants, but hideous grimaces and mockeries 
are just visible in the lurid gloom of perdition, where 
every heart burns with a hatred that can well express 
itself in laughter such as Goethe heard when he thought 
of Mephistopheles. 

Almost every spontaneous engagement of the mind U 



COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 201 

pleasurable. Creative might is surely pure benevo- 
lence ; for to use the senses in response to the desire of 
the mind for new sensation is, of course, soon to meet 
enjoyment in the perception of some property of matter 
always interesting to the soul, because the properties of 
matter were determined by the Creator on purpose to 
gratify the internal faculties of his intelligent creatures. 
Consciousness, therefore, as a rule, is always agreeable ; 
at least, this is so far felt to be true, that the idea of 
ceasing to be conscious of what we here enjoy, is itself 
the chief cause of the darkness with which fancy invests 
the notion called death. How beautiful and cheering is 
the fact that one born blind, for instance, drinks in the 
sweet music of friendly speech with double relish, and 
with a passionate love always alive to the harmony of 
social affections and joy. Even though, to show forth 
the glory of God as the Restorer, a human soul is some- 
times sent into this breathing world so imperfectly ac- 
commodated as neither to be able to hear nor see, yet 
that soul proves its capacity for everlasting happiness 
and knowledge by the invention of enjoyments in the 
many tangible properties of things within his reach, and 
thus finds numerous pleasures which those more fully 
endowed can scarcely imagine. But our joys are all 
comparative. The child is as happy as he can hold with 
his few ideas, and Laura Bridgman, James Mitchell, 
and others without sight, without hearing, were gener- 
ally full of gladness, even to an overflowing degree of 
rapture, in exercising the sense of touch alone. In- 
deed, it does not appear how any being can be unhappy, 
except either from outward violence, or from immo- 
rality, or the abuse of those passions by which human 
nature is set in motion, and the interests of society are 
sustained ; for the world of each individual must be 
blessed in itself, until one self interferes with another, 
and assumes a right which God does not authorize. 



202 COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 

How diligently and successfully James Mitchell hunted 
for new sensations to satisfy the appetites and instincts 
of his soul, is fully shown in the simple fact that he 
found a lasting delight in striking a key against his teeth. 
Thus, probably, he excited the auditory nerve by a pe- 
culiar percussion, which, being propagated through the 
jaws and the bony structure of the internal ear, pre- 
sented him with new ideas concerning the properties of 
matter, and agitated the sensorium with measured im- 
pulses, doubtless as gratifying to him, who knew no 
nearer approach to music, as the exquisite eloquence of 
his own violin was to Paganini. Successive impressions 
are successive pleasures, but the human soul can enjoy 
but one thing at a time ; therefore, enlargement of 
knowledge is not necessarily an enlargement of capacity 
for happiness. The temper of the mind is in this respect 
more important than its scope ; yet we are not intended 
to be satisfied with the present, but to be roused by 
what we experience to seek for what we hope ; because 
that degree of contentment which the happiest, most re- 
lying, and most religious mind may here know, is kept 
alive by expectation that still points to a coming period, 
when our capacity for bliss shall be equal to our knowledge, 
and that in consequence of our intellect then being no less 
pure in its purposes and pursuits than vast in its power. 
But we have turned a little aside from our subject to 
express ideas suggested by it, and which arose from re- 
flecting on Dr. Gordon's statement of the case of James 
Mitchell, particularly this passage : — M When a bunch of 
keys was given to him, he seized them with great avid- 
ity, and tried each separately, by suspending it loosely 
between two of his fingers, so as to allow it to vibrate 
freely ; and after tinkling them all against his teeth, he 
selected one from the others, the sound of which seemed 
to please him most. This was one of his most favorite 
amusements, and it was surprising how long it would 



COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 203 

arrest his attention, and with what eagerness he would 
on all occasions renew it. Mr. (now Lord Brougham) 
having observed this circumstance, brought to him a 
musical snuffbox, and placed it between his teeth. 
This seemed not only to excite his wonder, but to afford 
him exquisite delight; and his father and his sister, who 
were present, remarked that they had never seen him 
so much interested on any former occasion. While the 
instrument continued to play, he kept it closely between 
his teeth ; and when the airs were ended, he continued 
to hold the box to his mouth, and to examine it minutely 
with his fingers, expressing by his gestures and his coun- 
tenance great curiosity." 

That a person who may have long enjoyed the vast 
blessings of hearing and sight, and then is deprived of 
them, is not utterly stripped of means of happiness, may 
be seen in the remarkable case of a lady rendered blind 
and deaf by small-pox, and a portion of whose subsequent 
history is related in the " Philosophical Transactions" 
(1758). She became not only a blind, deaf mute, but 
was subject to paroxysms of extreme suffering from 
disease of the throat, which, for a long period, almost 
deprived her of the power of swallowing. This case is" 
extraordinary, from the well ascertained fact, that under 
these circumstances her senses of feeling and smelling 
were so wonderfully refined that she could at length dis- 
tinguish colors by their aid alone. She distinguished 
tier friends by an exquisite exaltation of the sense of 
auell, and could tell by touch even the different shades 
)f the same color which might enter into their dresses : 
ihus she distinguished pink from red. By attentively 
touching the figures on embroidery, she could state their 
respective colors, as well as their outlines. The instan- 
taneous lightning did not startle her, the divine voice of 
thunder did not move her ; " the sun to her was dark, 
and silent as the moon ;" but light was in her soul. A 



204 COMPENSATING POWER OF THE xMIND. 

world of bright visions lived before her mental eyesight, 
and doubtless she enjoyed a paradise of her own, in 
which her spirit wandered at will, like Milton, who 
wisely says, in writing to a friend (Phalaris), " Why 
should not each of us acquiesce in the reflection, that he 
derives the benefit of sight, not from his eyes alone, but 
from the guidance and providence of the Supreme Be- 
ing ? While he looks out and provides for me as he 
does, and leads me about with his hand through the 
paths of life, I willingly surrender my own faculty of 
vision, in conformity to his good pleasure, with a heart 
strong and steadfast." It is worthy of note, that in the 
dark and silent solitude in which the lady just alluded to 
was imprisoned, she sought and found appropriate solace 
in the sense of touch. There was a neat precision in 
her needlework, which proved that she engaged in it con 
amore, and with a peculiar pleasure, from the distinct 
apprehension of tangible order, and even with a feeling 
of visible beauty in design and execution. Of course, 
this pleasure was associated with the consciousness of 
pleasing others also, who would be surprised to see that 
she could accomplish what they could not equal even 
with the help of sight. Her writing, too, was equally 
exact ; the characters were very pretty, the lines, even 
the letters, equidistant from each other. Thus her 
mind adopted a mode of occupation in which the love of 
order, and, indeed, eveiy faculty that could express it- 
self with the few means within her reach, might find 
full employment. Hence, even when bodily pain pre- 
vented her soul from finding an escape out of constant 
night in the fancied vision of dreams, she was accustomed 
to sit up in bed, to soothe her nerves and divert her mind 
by writing and needlework ; for thus she not only dimin- 
ished nervous irritability by muscular action, but sustained 
her heart by enjoying the strongest of passions — the lovo 
of approbation. 



COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 205 

The store of ideas dwelling in the memory, and mul- 
tiplying there by many combinations, even in a soul thus 
comparatively shut out from fellowship, must still be a 
means of constant solace ; but if, amid the truthful beau- 
ties of a remembered world, the crowning thought has 
been imparted, — namely, that the Maker of the soul 
and all things is, indeed, the everlasting patron and 
parent of the desiring spirit — then the gate of heaven is 
opened, and faith begins already to live amid the glories 
of the inner temple, where shines the uncreated Light, 
and where sunbeams are not needed. 

The history of individuals deprived either of sight or 
of hearing, presents us with one fact of great interest and 
practical importance — namely, that the necessity of em- 
ploying the remaining sense with more nicety of dis- 
crimination, caused a habit of peculiar attention to things 
within its range. The effect of this close observation, 
both to details and to generals, in the deaf, for instance, 
is a remarkable distinctness of apprehension, clearness 
of memory, and hence facility of description, as well as, 
in cultivated individuals, a graceful force of diction, from 
the study of the best models, in language and the con- 
struction of sentences. This may be well illustrated by 
reference to the works of two admirable living authors, 
Miss Martin eau and Dr. Kitto. The writings of both 
afford good examples of that comprehensiveness of at- 
tention to facts which characterizes true genius, and 
confers on it that facility and readiness of association to 
which its copiousness seems to be entirely due. Dr. 
Kitto says of himself: "My mind retains a most dis- 
tinct and minute impression of every circumstance in 
which, at the time of occurrence, I felt the slightest 
degree of interest ; of every person whom I have at any 
time, during the last twenty-eight years, regarded with 
more than casual observation ; and of every scene upon 
which, during frequent and long continued change of 



206 COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 

place, I bestowed more than the most cursory notice. It 
is something to say this, under the immense variety of 
new objects which, during a long period of time, were 
constantly passing before my eyes, like the moving pan- 
oramas of some London exhibitions. And it should be 
understood, that what I mean by 4 cursory observation' 
is, the seeing of a thing without looking at it ; and, 
therefore, that I retain a clear impression or image of 
every thing at which I ever looked, although the color- 
ing of that impression is necessarily vivid in proportion 
to the degree of interest with which the object was 
regarded. I find this faculty of much use and solace to 
me. By its aid I can live again, at will, in the midst of 
any scene or circumstances by which I have been once 
surrounded. By a voluntary act of mind, I can in a 
moment conjure up the whole of any one out of the 
innumerable scenes in which the slightest interest has 
at any time been felt by me." 

The strong memory of the blind is shown in their gen- 
erally exact recollection of voices, even after long intervals* 
and is, perhaps, peculiarly exhibited in their retention 
of melodies. A good instance of verbal memory in a 
blind man is that of James Wilson, who, from being a 
village fiddler, with the help of a boy to read to him, be- 
came attached to books, and afterward was creditably 
known as an author. His talent for listening aided him 
to good purpose, in enabling him to edify his neighbors 
with the minutest details of news, at a time whe'n politi- 
cal intelligence was of the most exciting and important 
kind — during the French revolution. He knew the 
names, stations, and commanders of almost all the ships 
in the navy, and was also acquainted with the number, 
facing, and name of every regiment in the army, accord- 
ing to the respective towns, cities, or shires from which 
they were raised. This accomplishment soon made him 
the living army and navy chronicler for the poor of the 



COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 207 

neighborhood who had relations in either branch of the 
service, whom he was also capable of informing of all the 
general news. The following anecdote, related by him- 
self, shows the strength of his memory at this period : 

44 Being invited by a friend to spend an evening at his 
house, I had scarcely sat down, when three gentlemen 
entered. The conversation turned upon the news of the 
day. I was requested by my friend to repeat the names 
of as many of the ships of the British navy as I could 
recollect, telling me that he had a particular reason for 
the request. I commenced, and my friend marked them 
down as I went along, until I had repeated six hundred 
and twenty, when he stopped me, saying I had gone far 
enough. The cause of his request was then explained. 
One of the gentlemen had wagered a supper that I could 
not name five hundred ; he, however, expressed himself 
highly pleased at his loss, having been, as he acknowl- 
edged, highly entertained by the experiment.' ■ 

Though man's infirmity is stamped upon his body, and 
by the conditions of his birth he stoops to degradation, like 
a slave born to labor in chains, yet his spirit struggles in 
this bondage, and, with the far-seeing faculty of faith, 
looks forward, quietly confidiog in the rectifying purposes 
of Almighty Love. And even now, while groaning under 
his burden — his reason being enlightened by a message 
from his God — he feels the persuasion of his coming tri- 
umph so thoroughly in his whole being, that a song of 
grateful joy seems ready at once to burst from his full 
heart. Thus, as long as the Maker of soul and body per- 
mits a man to be conscious of the sufferings of the body, 
he enables him to rise superior to them, and being filled 
by lofty determination, in reliance upon divine favor, 
the feeble sufferer still enjoys the sufficiency of a will 
that is one with love, so that he finds infirmity and pain 
are no real impediments to his ultimate wishes, but rath- 
er incentives and occasions to demonstrate the might of 



208 COMPENSATING POWER OP THE MIND. 

a man that takes hold of God, and climbs, not creeps, 
toward heaven upon his hands and knees. No ! happi- 
ness is not a mere bodily state. I have now before my 
eye the smiling face of one who for eight years has been 
totally blind, incapable of sitting, without the use of the 
legs, subjected to violent pain, and frequently convulsed ; 
yet, whenever consciousness returns, there is the ready 
smile, with the happy word. Why is this ? / know 
that my Redeemer liveth, is the sufferer's grand secret. 

These facts are here inserted, because they are espe- 
cially worthy of notice, at least by the youthful reader, 
as they demonstrate that useful memory is mainly due to 
the degree of distinct and careful attention given to the 
objects of sense for the express purpose of acquiring and 
retaining a knowledge of them. We must will to observe 
minutely, if we would learn truths, and be qualified dis- 
tinctly to impart them to other minds. And we should con- 
sider that this exact attention influences both imagination 
and judgment, because the power of reproducing in our 
minds the images of past impressions, as well as that of 
comparing, and thus estimating ideas, depends on that 
proper exercise of our discriminating faculties, which a 
proper employment of attention necessarily implies. In 
short, our senses are the instruments of our souls, and if 
we use them in a bungling manner, we are sure that our 
best accomplishments will be but confusion. 

Take care, therefore, to obtain information that may 
guide you to the right use of your senses, for they may 
be as acute as those of a wild man of the woods, all 
alive to the impressions of nature, and yet you may give 
no more attention to them than would suffice to satisfy 
the faculties of a baboon, instead of affording your reason 
any perception of the true meaning of things around 
you. With all your gettings, get understanding, says 
Solomon ; that is, learn to observe, for without this ac- 
complishment, the five avenues of w T isdom might as well 



COM PENS 1/XNG POWER OF THE MIND. 209 

have been closed, since they will only serve to enslave 
the soul, and bind it with fetters, to be loosed, if at all, 
only by death. "When you gaze up into heaven, on a 
starlight night, what do you see ? Stars, stars, stars. 
Yes ; but is that all ? He who has learned to employ 
his eyesight, sees order where you see confusion ; his 
mind enters into his organs of vision, and enables them 
to detect differences which the uncultivated eye entirely 
overlooks ; and moreover, a man with his mental eye- 
sight, where another observes only gleaming sparkles of 
light, beholds worlds moving together in mutual harmony 
and visibly regulated by laws, which prove that the same 
mind which rules the elements of earth, and distributes 
the rays of the sun in such a manner that each small 
sphere of water in the descending shower shall analyze 
its given portion of light, so that the rainbow shall em- 
brace the hills, and bring to man's memory his Maker's 
covenant. Thus, by attentively applying our senses, 
we learn analogy, and understand that Omnipotence is 
ever present, reigning alike in the minute and the mag- 
nificent of his infinite universe, and as easily managing 
worlds as he does the dew-drops, each strung upon its 
shred of morning light. Now, reader, what have you 
learned of order and beauty, so that they may rest in 
your soul as part and parcel of its consciousness forever ? 
"What have " birds, and butterflies, and flowers" con- 
veyed to your mind concerning Him who arrayed them 
in their surpassing glory ? Do you think your Heavenly 
Father careth not for you ? Then look a little more 
closely into the meek and tender beauties about you, 
lest you should be no more of a philosopher than Peter 
Bell :— 

" A primrose by the water's brim, 

A yellow primrose was to him, 

And it was nothing more." 

And yet it is a keen preacher, and quietly upbraids us 
14 



210 COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 

all with want of faith in our Maker and Preserver. 
What of the harmony of heaven do you realize by lis- 
tening to the "linked sweetness" of nature's music? 
Perhaps you are too happy to deliberate — you neither 
look to the past nor the future, being satisfied with the 
present. Enviable state! If indeed you are innocent, 
you may go on thoughtlessly enjoying the ceaseless 
bounties of Providence like an unreflecting child ; you 
are safe. But you are not holy, and therefore your in- 
stincts will not conduct you forever onward to new hap- 
piness as surely as the intuition of an angel fits him for 
the enjoyment of all heaven. You are depraved, and 
therefore you must reflect, and gather instruction from 
the past, to lead your understanding onward to the future. 
But if you do not earnestly attend, what will be your 
past, but a mere chaos ? You must pause upon impres- 
sion, and compare, and judge, and not be satisfied with 
the knowledge that may happen to be forced upon you ; 
but as the works of God are sought out by those who 
delight in them, so you, in order to be permanently 
wise, are required to use your senses with a full pur- 
pose always in view; expecting to find objects so ex- 
quisitely adapted to each of them, that you may dwell on 
the confines of a spiritual world through all and either of 
them. But know, the time is near when you shall have 
no pleasure in sense, and when the truths of indwelling 
knowledge, the mental wealth derived only from indus- 
trious attention, can alone furnish you with objects to 
sustain your spirits, by reminding you of the attributes 
of Him who will never forsake you ; therefore, even il 
you have but one sense left, you may yet learn to use it 
aright ; and you will find that through it you may be- 
come intimate at length, by association, suggestion, im- 
agination, and sympathy, with all the wonders of crea- 
tion, since there is not a tint, nor form, nor scent, nor 
sound, nor tangible beauty in universal nature, but must 



COMPENSATING POWER OF THE MIND. 211 

find some correspondent condition or quality in your 
soul, which shall be awakened through that one sense, 
by your properly and wisely employing it. If, then, you 
have ears, listen ; if eyes, look ; and if, like Laura Bridg- 
man, you have only feeling left, still live at large through 
that, and, like her, exist lovingly, trustfully, hopefully, 
happily, because every kind of knowledge brings the 
soul into fellowship with humanity and with God. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

TEMPERAMENTS. 

The body is constituted by the union of the circulatory, 
respiratory, assimilative, absorbent, secerning, muscular, 
and nervous systems, which all act together under laws, 
and with apparatus peculiar to each, and equally mar- 
velous in all, for the purpose of rearing up and main- 
taining a complication of organized machinery pervaded 
and preserved by one life, and actuated by one soul. 
The failure of either of these systems arrests the action 
of the whole ; for although they are distinct in parts and 
in power, they are indivisible in operation and mutual 
dependence, but yet either may, to a certain extent, pre- 
dominate, and it is this predominance which, in fact, 
confers peculiarity of temperament. Galen was the first 
to classify temperaments, but he founded his division 
on error, according to the ancient notion of the four 
elements ; and as the Greek philosophers taught that air, 
water, fire, and earth possessed corresponding qualities 
of heat, cold, dryness, and moisture, so the supposed 
components of the human body — blood, phlegm, bile, 
and black bile — were represented as giving rise to the 
corresponding sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and mel- 
ancholic temperaments. Such distinctions, however, 
do not exist in nature, and temperaments are as diver- 
sified as the state and circumstances of each body. Yet 
a certain preponderance in either of the systems may be 
manifest ; and as the fitness of the body for the uses of 



TEMPERAMENTS. 213 

the mind mainly depends upon their proper adjustment, 
it will be more correct to characterize temperaments by 
any marked excess in the relative development of either 
of those systems. In order, however, to conform to 
usage in this chapter, the familiar terms will be adopted 
with the understanding that the sanguine temperament 
is connected with a free circulation of blood, and a cor- 
responding respiration ; the phlegmatic, or lymphatic, 
with vigor of the digestive functions, and tardiness in 
other respects ; the bilious, or more properly the fibrous, 
with firmness of muscle and general energy ; and the 
melancholic, with deficiency of assimilative vigor and 
disturbed or inordinate activity of the brain and nervous 
system. 

Temperament relates fully as much to the mind as to 
the body, and the loose mass that has been written on 
this subject would have been vastly more useful if the 
writers had more faithfully remembered the fact, that 
there is a spirit in man, and that by the breath of the 
Almighty he became a living soul. Every healthy child 
is sanguine ; every thoughtful man is nervous ; the 
former enjoys the freshness of vigorous life, with Hope 
and Fun as his playfellows, while the latter, stirred by 
the strong motives which the tribulation of true knowl- 
edge brings with it, is mentally active and energetic. The 
lymphatic body does not always belong to a sleepy soul, 
nor a hasty spirit to a fibrous constitution. It is true, 
indeed, that an indulged stomach is apt to produce a 
heaviness of brain, and the man who freely uses his 
lungs in healthful exercise will enjoy a better circulation 
of blood and a freer spirit than the indolent and sottish. 
The brain may be oppressed by that which should 
nourish its power, and the abundant aliment that would 
administer muscular strength to those who use it, will 
only contribute grossness to the inactive. But yet a man 
may be as dry as an Arab, and as free from fat as a 



214 TEMPERAMENTS, 

greyhound, and still be more disposed to think than to 
hunt. Bodily temperament influences the operations 
of the human mind only as far as it interferes with the 
convenient exercise of the will, but the habit of mind 
must depend rather on mental associations than on the 
fitness of a man's countenance to express his passions. 
Individuals who are not excited by pain to exert them- 
selves are not idle, but diseased, and the state of the 
body in such persons presents impediments to action 
which can be more easily submitted to than overcome. 
The moral state of the mind modifies the influence of 
temperament, and the man accustomed to assert the 
rights of self-hood by a commanding intellect, stimu- 
lated by high moral training, will manifest his nobility 
in spite of an incommodious body. The state of the 
passions rather than his complexion determines his ac- 
tions, and the struggles of his soul will form his visible 
character, whatever be the color of his hair, or the dimen- 
sions of his limbs. The lymphatic man is as capable of 
anger as the fibrous, but while the latter fiercely vents 
his feelings in his muscles, the former palpitates at heart, 
and smothers his emotions with a sigh. Many a phleg- 
matic body has concealed an irascible diposition, and 
many a choleric countenance has been fashioned by 
mental agony and self-control. Although we can by 
no means read a man's disposition by the quantity and 
quality of his flesh', nevertheless his mental habit and 
aptitude for intellectual exertion are usually impressed 
upon his features and his form. Whether he be phleg- 
matic, sanguine, nervous, or bilious, we shall, for the 
most part, be able at a glance to decide whether he have 
been accustomed to master his passions by the use of 
his reason. 

One man is less excitable than another, not because his 
ideas are fewer, his temptations feebler, or his thoughts 
less rapid, but merely because, his affections being better 



TEMPERAMENTS. 215 

trained, he does not hastily associate all that passes in 
his mind with a feeling of his bodily self. But every 
idea is emotional with savages, with young children, 
and with fools, because they have not been subjected to 
moral restraints, and taught to resist impulse for the 
sake of spiritual advantage. It is only by forethought, 
or by intently aiming at a specific end, to the attainment 
of which lesser objects are regarded as at best but sub- 
servient, that a man endures patiently and with undi- 
verted purpose. If his ambition thus absorb all minor 
passions, he will be phlegmatic, because he will conceal 
his feelings, and keep himself free from the iufection of 
the transports of others by unnatural violence to his own 
heart. But does this power of self-possession for ulte- 
rior purposes altogether resolve itself into a certain 
proportion between the brain and the belly, or the blood 
and the muscles and absorbents ? No. Napoleon was 
of the same temper of mind when a slim lieutenant at 
Valance, as when he fattened at Elba, or as when the 
vulture preyed upon his heart at St. Helena. Faith 
rules wherever it dwells, and enables a man calmly to 
keep the even tenor of his way, whatever be the tem- 
perament of his fluids and solids, because it has a living 
power that grows with the demand upon it. 

Those who are marked by habitual self-control are 
either possessed by hypocrisy or by great ideas ; they 
are either canting to serve some present purpose, or the 
vastness of their vision into the future prevents their 
being much moved by any thing present ; thus, the hypo- 
crite lives on scraps only for time, while the Christian's 
heart is in eternity. High thoughts preserve us from 
low desires, in spite of temperament ; but unless we love 
some object more than our own ease, we are the slaves 
of our own bodies. If we enjoy not the delights of in- 
tellectual and affectionate sociality, we must be either 
abstruse saints or groveling brutes. We must seek 



216 TEMPERAMENTS, 

pleasure somewhere and somehow ; if not in holy excel 
lence, then we must say, like Milton's Satan, 

" Evil, be thou my good !" 

Where mind does not govern, sense is obeyed ; and 
when we cease to struggle for self-mastery, we sink into 
our imperfect instincts with a very inferior brutalism. 
Then we shall be tardigrade or active according to the 
demands of appetite, and shall luxuriate like swine 
grubbing for roots, or hunt like beasts of prey, just in 
proportion to the supply of food. Then the temper will 
be in keeping with the condition of the body, and sensa- 
tion will master the mind. Thus the man who is gov- 
erned by his animal propensities will grow mischievous 
in his sulky irritation, like a wild elephant or buffalo dis- 
appointed of enjoyment, while he who aims higher will 
increase his might by struggling on to triumph over his 
most imperious passions. 

The world is divisible into two classes : those whose 
motives are derived from the body, carnal ; and those 
who alone practice morality, the spiritual. It is because 
savages and the like are obedient to bodily tempera- 
ment that morals, properly speaking, are not known 
among them. Those who doubt this may emigrate to 
the heart of New Zealand. There they will see that 
cruelty, lust, and fear are the only known gods. The 
supreme they adore is the spirit of evil ; he is supreme 
over them. Hence superstition binds them in fetters of 
fire ; darkness is terror, and every unusual sound dis- 
may, because each man is afraid to trust his fellow, since 
he reads his character in his own heart. Thus self is 
opposed to self, hateful and hating. Hence the state of 
man without revelation proves that morality is derived 
from Heaven; the law of right is from above, the law 
of might is native to earth ; and the doctrine of pure 
love, such as we find portrayed in the luminous words 



TEMPERAMENTS. 217 

of the Bible, proves itself to be an emanation of the 
Divine Mind ; since no human being, left to learn only 
from his own natural feelings, or from the conduct of 
his equally unenlightened brother, would ever have con- 
ceived the idea of a power that could banish fear. This 
power is the regenerative truth, the entrance of which 
is light and liberty to man's spirit ; because God has thus 
demonstrated his name and nature through the Word 
made flesh to dwell among us. It is faith in this truth 
that at once and forever makes a man a new creature, 
by altering the spirit of his mind, and modeling it afresh 
in the image of his Maker. 

Christians have the highest motives and the highest 
desires to use the body well, and therefore they ought 
to learn physiology enough to enable them to modify 
temperament so as to offer the least impediment to the 
working of their principles. No doubt a literal obedience 
to the laws of the New Testament would answer al\ 
purposes ; but at present Christians do not feel quito 
confident in following them explicitly, because they dc 
not quite perceive how exactly they are suited to the 
state of humanity. Self-crucifixion is the theory, but 
not generally the practice ; probably, because the rela- 
tion of the individual to his body is not sufficiently un- 
derstood. Christians, indeed, always begin in the right 
way to attain the end, for the desires of the mind must 
be elevated before the physical tendencies can be ren- 
dered amenable to the behests of the spirit. With a 
pure volition, and a heart turned heavenward, the chief 
difficulty is overcome ; since it is a fact, as before shown, 
that the direction of the will more determines the state 
of the body than that of the body the will ; for as is oui 
will, so is our love, and that is stronger than death. 

The object of this work is to advance information, 
from which the reader may draw inferences for his own 
conduct, without specific rules for individuals. It is by 



218 TEMPERAMENTS, 

enlightened reason that we are correctly guided ; but 
each of us must form his judgment for himself, or else 
personal responsibility is at an end, and the soul becomes 
a ready slave to any presuming teacher. 

The different temperaments, however, demand very 
different regimens, and therefore a few words may prop- 
erly be devoted to what is appropriate to each. The 
facts and observations dispersed through this volume, in 
a general way, show the importance of bodily manage- 
ment ; but it is manifest that particular rules are re- 
quired in particular cases. The phlegmatic or lymphat- 
ic constitution is connected with extensive and powerful 
digestive organs, and therefore the danger is from in- 
ordinate appetite. It demands moderate stimulation, 
steady exercise, brief sleep, occasional fasting, little 
drink, and strong food. The choleric (bilious or fibrous) 
man has too active a heart ; he should aim at obtaining 
bland blood and a quiet state of the nerves. Substances 
that irritate the stomach and excite the heart cause 
such characters to become outrageous ; and if they in- 
dulge in the abundant use of animal food, stimulant liq- 
uors, and spices, it is as well to reason with a whirlwind 
or a drunkard, as to persuade them against their inclina- 
tion. They must, then, be treated like madmen, for 
nothing will check the intensity raging within them but 
forcible restraint, abstinence, and solitude. The san- 
guine man is hurried on by the warmth and fullness of 
his heart to form attachments and make promises which 
prudence and providence forbid him to fulfill ; hence he 
is regarded as inconstant and inconsistent, for his errors 
are not always looked on with the charitable indulgence 
with which he regards those of others. He requires 
especial management, for he is in the greater danger 
because "his failings lean to virtue's side." The regi- 
men of the choleric man is not inappropriate to him, for 
although he is sometimes highly elated, and at other 



TEMPERAMENTS. 219 

times equally dejected, his characteristic is want of self- 
control. Therefore extreme moderation, using only 
three meals a-day, without stimulants, is best for him. 
He needs a keeper, and a wise friend is essential to his 
safety ; therefore let him deserve to obtain one. Hap- 
pily this kind improves by time and experience. Prob- 
ably the diet and discipline of a well conducted union- 
house would not be amiss to such a temperament, for 
his flighty hopes would have their wings clipped, his 
appetences would be restrained, and affectionate fits 
and wayward impulses be checked, by the magnetic 
touch of a charity sufficiently cold and decided. Steady 
employment, enforced regularity, a proper attachment, 
will be more useful to the sanguine youth than any 
strictness of dietary. The nervous have a predominance 
of brain. They should seek society, and employ them- 
selves among the beautiful varieties of nature, not merely 
for the treasuring up of thoughts, but for the improve- 
ment of their senses, and the development of their mus- 
cles. Their blood is apt to be disordered, because their 
digestive functions suffer from the exhaustion of the 
nerves, induced by study and excessive sensibility; 
therefore their diet should be light and moderate, and 
every thing should be done with a view to preserving 
the proper balance between thought and action, muscle 
and mind. The nervous, the melancholic, and the bil- 
ious, are near akin to each other, and are often met with 
in the same person, as a confirmed dyspeptic, or still 
more miserable hypochondriac. In such, the whole being 
is alive to pain. All the universe seems inconvenient to 
the melancholy man, and whether his gloomy sensibility 
arise from a morbid body or a mistaken view of Divine 
Providence, his self-complacency is alike disturbed, and 
he feels his individuality not as faith dictates, but as 
his senses inform him, so that he is oppressed by the 
weight of his own helplessness, instead of casting him- 



220 TEMPERAMENTS. 

self with all his cares upon the Almighty. Every man 
is liable to this worst of all maladies when his body 
fails, or he has unnaturally limited his attention ; and 
the only remedy for it is found in the drawing out of 
the affections so as to induce bodily activity, or in that 
assurance of soul which looks for sufficiency only in 
Him who brought each of us into existence for his own 
good pleasure, and orders our circumstances so as ulti- 
mately to prove that Omnipotence can not be unkind, 
The will that is not resigned to God is always impatient 
of impediment, because it knows no law above itself; so 
that, after all, the end of our argument is the same as 
the beginning — namely, that true happiness, or health 
of soul, is simply what, in the New Testament, is called 
salvation, and which is begun in every spirit that can 
look forward with a steadfast eye, and say, Thy will 
be done. 

When thinking of dyspepsia and melancholy, who can 
forget poor Cowper ? The vast black wall which he rep- 
resented as visibly erected between himself and heaven, 
was some impediment to the right action of his brain, in 
relation both to thought and sight. His disease was kept 
up by monotony and medicine. There were none but 
quackish attempts at cure, except while under the care 
of Dr. Cotton, whose treatment for a time restored 
him, and whose advice, if properly followed out, would 
probably have been attended with permanent advantage. 
When comparison and association were so far unob- 
scured by a depraved stomach, bad blood, and an irrita- 
ble brain, that the poet could exercise his judgment and 
reason on premises before him, then the holy truth 
which he loved immediately triumphed, but, as disease 
advanced, to fix his attention through his senses was 
only to beget confusion, so that the visions of his slumber 
were often more reasonable than his waking thoughts. 
Although the process of digestion does not depend on 



TEMPERAMENTS. 221 

the brain — for a creature without a brain may digest 
well — yet a painful state of mind disorders every func- 
tion of the body. Now, as the brain is the organic me- 
dium between the vital organs and the mind, of course 
if the brain becomes sympathetically disordered by dis- 
ease, it prevents the happy manifestation of mind. But 
this happens either to the extent of rendering the indi- 
vidual perfectly imbecile and idiotic, or else as an im- 
pediment to mental action, of which the individual is 
conscious. Now, in the latter case, the instability of 
temper, and restlessness of disposition, will be no further 
evinced than as sources of complaint, as long as the mind 
is sustained by faith in the love and power of God. But 
we see that those who are without moral and religious 
principles are, unless they are utterly prostrated, always 
ill tempered when out of health. A feeling of inconve- 
nience, when not associated by reason with the propriety 
of submission, of course excites resistance. Thus, a pal- 
sied man may be quite angry at being dissuaded from 
some purpose in his mind, but the instant he remembers 
his unfitness for exertion, bis anger is gone. When 
Sir Walter Scott, palsied by tumor of the brain, was 
impelled by thought and habit to his writing-desk, the 
opposition of his family offended him, but on attempting 
to write, he felt his inability, and burst into tears. 

44 Quod animi mores temperamenta sequantur" is but 
an excuse for indulgence in animal desire, and scarcely 
becoming, even to the creed of a Hottentot ; although, 
doubtless, complacently adopted by many a decent phi- 
losopher. The feeblest bodies are generally the most 
sensitive, but sensibility destroys not moral perception, 
nor moral purpose ; for a man may be as tremulous as 
a jelly from debility, but yet his faith may be too strong 
to be conquered by weakness. He may be ready to 
shrink away, like a worm into the earth, at the sound 
of a footstep, and find *' tb*» human face divine" too ex- 



222 TEMPERAMENTS. 

citing, and the voice of his beloved scarcely gentle enough 
for his brain, and yet with a holy pertinacity prefer the 
rack to recantation. There is no heroism in blood- ves- 
sels and nerves ; but a spirit possessed by reliance on 
God, though animating the gentlest heart, yet laughs at 
the flames, and commits the body to their embrace with 
a song of triumph. " So be it, Lord — so be it," said 
Anne Askew. The spirit may be willing and the flesh 
w^eak, but there is the willing spirit still. Hence the 
Christian's paradoxical experience ; and hence, too, in- 
consistency is so often mistaken for hypocrisy, by those 
who have not been new-born out of nature with the 
weight of a felt eternity upon them. The moral law of 
a heathen will serve for a skeptic, but the man who looks 
into the two everlastings, death and life, sees no safety 
in middle courses. 

Every healthy giant ought to be a hero, according to 
the theory that represents the moral character as the 
result of physical structure ; but we know that " many 
a good tall fellow" is only a coward, in spite of his large 
heart. A brutal impulse may sometimes get the better 
of his discretion ; but if this be courage, then a game- 
cock is more of a hero than is Wellington. The pano- 
plied Goliah trusted in his armor, and laughed at the 
stripling with his sling. But which was the hero ? No ! 
spirits are not firm in strength of muscle, but in mighty 
principle ; and the soul must be taught to depend on 
some power above itself, or its might readily degener- 
ates into desperation. Thus the veriest coward be- 
comes daring when he has done with his calculations of 
escape ; and the provost is often more persuasive than 
the general, or even the hope of prize-money. We 
oftener hesitate from the state of our affections than from 
the state of our fibers, and our defective attention to duty 
depends rather on our motives than on our muscles. But 
to make morality spring from the circulation in the capil- 



TEMPERAMENTS. 223 

laries, as some men teach, is to reduce man to an acci- 
dental demon, whose prowess may emulate either the 
majesty of Milton's Satan, or the little mischievous 
pranks of Shakspeare's Puck, just according to the 
power of the stomach to digest. 

Conscience does make cowards of us all, but yet many 
have met death face to face without fear, calmly, eye to 
eye, not blinded by the impetuosity of their blood. Was 
it because the relative proportions of their brain were 
altered, or some new organ developed ? No such thing. 
Neither temperament, age, sex, nor condition determined 
it. Persons at all periods of life, and in all varieties of 
bodily form and habit, have coolly conquered the last 
enemy, not by dint of physical training, but by mental 
conviction, by change of motive, by change of thoughts, 
by the knowledge of new relationship between their 
Maker and themselves. They have seen life and im- 
mortality brought to light, and with united voice exulted 
over the last and mightiest enemy : 

* O Grave, where is thy victory ? 
O Death, where is thy sting ?" 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD ON MENTAL ACTION. 

Probably temperament is really more dependent on 
the condition of the circulation and the chemical agencies 
involved in it than on any other vital peculiarity. But 
yet, of course, we can not overlook the fact that develop 
ment of form greatly modifies the operation of the mind, 
for who can think of the difference between an athletic 
and a puny body without perceiving how unfit they are 
for similar purposes ; this unfitness undoubtedly is felt 
to the full by the individual spirits by which they are 
respectively animated and employed. We shall not look 
among voluntary tailors for brawny, muscular, and san- 
guine men, nor expect to find among the grenadiers one 
who would prefer the gentle duties of a man-milliner. 
Then again, if we reflect on the peculiarities in body 
which distinguish the sexes, we can not but discover 
corresponding manifestations of taste and disposition ; for 
such is the order of nature, that the mind takes its cast 
from its accommodations, and seeks to be exercised in 
the most appropriate manner, or, at least, in that way 
which seems to afford it most promise of enjoyment. 
For the purpose of obtaining a clearer insight into tem- 
perament and its consequences, we will look more closely 
into a few facts illustrative of the influence of the san- 
guineous circulation on the action of the mind. 

According to the analyses of Lecanu, it appears that 
temperament has a marked influence on the character of 
the blood. That of lymphatic persons is poorer in solid 



INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD, ETC. 225 

constituents and blood-corpuscles than that of sanguin- 
eous persons. The same authority also states that at 
successive periods of life the relative proportion of con- 
stituents varies, and that blood-corpuscles, with which 
vital energy seems mainly connected, are not so abun- 
dant in the earlier periods of life as at maturity, after 
which there is a progressive decrease in the solid part 
of this fluid, and that after the age of forty or fifty the 
increase of cholesterin in the blood is very decided. Sex 
also modifies the blood ; that of the female being more 
watery than that of the male. Disease, of course, alters 
these conditions, but the blood best suited for one state 
of the nervous system would be unfit for another, and 
therefore the nervous power greatly modifies the action 
of the heart, and the condition of the circulating fluid. 
Mental state also operates powerfully in controlling the 
force of the circulation, so much so, indeed, that by ap- 
propriate employments of mind the prominent peculiarity 
of a man's temperament may be entirely altered. The 
blood affords the stimulus and nutriment of the brain ; 
the working of this organ must, therefore, depend on the 
quality and quantity of this fluid distributed to it. Still, 
lest this observation should mislead the reader, it will be 
well at once to remark, that the manner in which the 
mind works with brain is not in the least understood, 
bat it appears to be demonstrated that the direction of 
thought is determined rather by the habits of the indi- 
vidual in the use of his senses, than by the state of the 
blood and the condition of the brain, for the law of as- 
sociation is almost universal in its dominion over mental 
operations. Yet the rapidity or intensity of the mind, 
in whatever direction it may be exerted, seems chiefly 
to be regulated by the force of the circulation in the 
bram ; and the probability of this we can not fail to per- 
ceive, if we consider what has been previously stated 
concerning the currents of action in the brain, together 
15 



226 INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD 

with its connection with the organs of sense, and its 
sympathy with every function as established by nervous 
correspondence. The constancy of this sympathy and 
connection is maintained by the circulation of blood- 
power and nervous influence. The study of the asso- 
ciated actions of the brain with other organs of the body, 
though too abstruse and elaborate a subject to be now 
enlarged on, would greatly assist us in endeavoring to 
comprehend the causes of mental enjoyment and dis- 
turbance, for it is evident that different portions of brain 
are directly associated in action with different parts of the 
body, and especially with the different organs of sense. 
In this respect the brain may be advantageously regard- 
ed as made up of a variety of parts, which, although con- 
stituting but one organ, yet subserve distinct purposes. 
Hence the supply of blood in the brain may be subject 
to partial irregularity, either from undue use of other 
parts of the body, or by the direct action of the mind on 
different portions of brain unequally. Certain phrenol- 
ogists endeavor to account for all varieties of mental 
manifestation, w T hether asleep or awake, by supposing 
certain parts of the brain to remain dormant while 
others become active. To a certain extent they are 
justified in their conclusions by the testimony of facts* 
but undoubtedly not to the extent which some assert, 
when they would have us conclude that different sorts 
of thoughts are secreted, and separated from the blood 
by the brain, just as different substances are produced 
by the glands. This is physiology running wild, for it 
represents organization not as instrumental, but as cre- 
ative, and that not of absolute existences, but of nonenti- 
ties, since, as already observed, thoughts and thinkers must 
perish together if both are only brain-work destroyed by 
death. But the soul is the proper excitant of the brain : 
yet as warmth, light, moisture, nutriment, and oxygen are 
essential to vital development, so all these, in connection 



ON MENTAL ACTION. 227 

with appropriate organs, are requisite in this life to the 
manifest operation of the mind. In order to sensation, 
there must, of course, exist a suitable vehicle of im- 
pression, and therefore, too, in order to thinking, sensa- 
tion appeals to the will of the soul, that thus a demand 
may be made by it upon the brain, and hence upon the 
heart, for the materials to put the nervous and muscular 
system into use, since, as regards our present existence, 
the proper end of all thinking is bodily action. From 
this cause, thinking, willing, acting, cause determination 
of blood to the head, which can be relieved only by 
muscular exertion, by diversion of thought, or else by 
the quickening of some secerning function. 

Physical agents operate on the organization subserv- 
ient to our passions, by modifying the state and supply 
of blood to the nervous mass, which stands intermedi- 
ately between the object and the percipient. Those 
experiments in which the character and quantity of the 
blood has been directly altered by injecting fluids into 
its vessels, will best illustrate this subject. The blood of 
one animal being thrown into the veins of another, pro- 
duces disorder in proportion to the quantity of blood trans- 
fused, and to the disparity in species of the subjects of 
experiment ; for it appears that the globules, if not the 
elements of the blood, proper to one kind of animal, are 
generally unfit to circulate in the system of another. 
Thus we find, that if the blood of an animal which pro- 
duces milk, a mammal, be injected into the blood-ves- 
sels of a bird, the effects are so violent as to produce 
instantaneous death. This result can not be explained 
by supposing a mechanical obstruction to the passage of 
the blood-corpuscles through the capillary vessels, since 
it is found that those bodies are smaller in mammalia 
than in birds. They are, however, of different forms ; 
those of mammalia being circular, those of birds being 
elliptical. But if the fibrin be removed from the fresh- 



228 INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD 

drawn blood of a mammal, it has been proved by Dr. 
Bischoff that it may be injected in moderate quantity 
into the veins of a bird without inconvenience. 

Transfusion has been resorted to, with great benefit, 
in many cases of nearly fatal exhaustion from loss of 
blood, and in other forms of disorder where the waste 
and deterioration of the blood have been greater than 
the assimilative processes have been able to counteract. 
In cases of this kind, the influence of the circulation on 
the mind is strikingly demonstrated, as great deficiency 
and deterioration of blood are attended with unconscious- 
ness, or, in slighter degrees, by much confusion of mem- 
ory and tardiness of thought, often passing into delirium, 
which state is relieved at once by a new supply of pure 
blood, for the wandering soul can thus again connect it- 
self with surrounding objects in its accustomed manner, 
since the nervous power of the brain and senses neces- 
sary for that purpose is again supplied with appropriate 
energy. At one time, such immense and marvelous 
consequences were expected from the practice of trans- 
fusion, as plainly indicated the most unreasonable igno- 
rance of physiology in those who professed to teach it. 
Patients and their physicians, with equally unwise ex- 
pectations, have submitted to transfusion. They gen- 
erally experienced violent pulsations, with vehement in- 
crease of heat, profuse perspirations, great pains in the 
stomach and loins, with a sense of suffocation, of course 
associated with corresponding mental states. Excessive 
vomiting sometimes occurred, which calmed the turbu- 
lence, and was succeeded by profound sleep. These facts 
only show that the blood of one man may be poisonous 
to another, and that the whole constitution of each be- 
ing is individual, every part being consistent with the 
totality. 

Medicated fluids have been injected into the veins for 
the cure of disease, both in this country and abroad, but 



ON MENTAL ACTION. 229 

without any marked benefit. The effects of this treat- 
ment were most remarkable in some cases of spasmodic 
cholera ; that mysterious malady, which, like a messenger 
of especial warning from the Almighty to the trading 
world, lately decimated Europe and America. In this 
disease, the blood becomes peculiarly vitiated, and as- 
sumes the appearance of liquid pitch. The deficiency 
of fluid in the blood in such cases being the most prom- 
inent fact, physicians deemed it probable that fluid might 
be added to it with advantage, and experiment justified 
their conclusion. More than a gallon of pure, warm 
water, or sometimes a weak solution of common salt 
and soda, has been injected in many such desperate 
cases, and the individual who, as if without a Savior, 
lay waiting the last touch from the visible hand of Death, 
with a countenance of appalling anxiety, has been quickly 
roused from his death-bed, apparently endowed with 
new life, the bloom and smile of health beaming from 
the face, and the soul free to utter its joy in cheerful 
actions and pleasant words. 

" Abeunt pallorque situsque ; 
Adjectoque caves supplentur sanguine vense ; 
Membraque luxuriant." 

This bright improvement, however, soon passed away, 
except in a few instances, in which other means were 
also employed, and in which time was thus taken ad- 
vantage of to effect a perfect cure. 

Of course, we should expect that great changes in the 
condition and quantity of the blood would induce great 
alterations in the mental manifestation ; but these exper- 
iments do not more plainly exhibit those changes than 
is seen in the effects of intoxication, or any other form 
of poisoning. Most strange and absurd reports were, 
however, at one time raised by hasty transfusers, con- 
cerning the wonderful effects of new blood upon the 
mind. Thus a simpleton was said to have become a 



230 INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD 

great wit by a liberal supply of lamb's blood, and, by the 
same means, an old, blind dog to have suddenly acquired 
the sharp sight and friskiness of a pup. From what has 
been stated concerning the purposes of the blood in the 
vital economy, it can be well understood, that those ten- 
dencies and merely animal propensities which owe their 
excitation entirely to the blood, and depend for their 
activity on the condition of the capillary vessels, would 
of course be so vastly influenced by transfusion, as to 
appear like the direct result of the mere materials thus 
furnished. And, on the same grounds, we can compre- 
hend how a person, with a brain debilitated from deficien- 
cy of good blood, might immediately manifest a strong 
mind when the brain was rendered fit to be acted on by 
the thinking power, by being fully supplied with the ne- 
cessary pabulum. When Professor Harwood, of Cam- 
bridge, transfused the blood of a sheep into the veins of 
a dog previously bled, the dog immediately after began 
to eat grass. An old bed-maker, who happened to be 
present, exclaimed, 4i Laud, maister, your dog is turning 
into a sheep." But this eating of grass may be better 
explained by the fact, that more arterial blood than was 
proper had been introduced, and the dog, more sensible 
than his master of the unnatural plethora, forthwith be- 
gan to swallow grass to excite vomiting, according to its 
instinct in such a case. Many, however, like the old 
bed-maker, seem to expect that man, with his philo- 
sophic tricks, may be able to transfuse natures, and, as if 
there were no essential difference between the soul of a 
man and that of a monkey, to produce minds according 
to rule. But, in spite of theories, what God has ordained 
as specific distinction can never be confounded ; and His 
idea in each individual, however interrupted and confused 
in its development by permitted interference in the form 
of, so called, accident, can yet never be supplanted by a 
substitute. Had the transfusers been more careful to 



ON MENTAL ACTION. 231 

describe the kind of insanity which their experiments 
sometimes produced, and had they also told us the pre- 
vious mental state of those subjected to them, the world 
would have been somewhat wiser than at present for 
their experiments. We have certainly, however, no 
reason to doubt, from what they have recorded, that the 
kind of mental derangement in any instance produced 
was, in every case, in perfect keeping with the previous 
habit and disposition of the individual. A case in point, 
which powerfully illustrates the influence of the blood on 
the brain, and which on other accounts is worthy to be 
kept in remembrance, is that of a patient treated for 
hydrophobia, in the Hotel Dieu, at Paris, in 1823. The 
history of the case was published by Magendie. It is 
stated, that the sight of a looking-glass, or of any liquid, 
excited the most violent agitations, and that the slightest 
noise, or even the mere contact of the fingers with his 
hair, caused the man's body alternately to bend and un- 
bend itself with an energy and violence almost incredible, 
and which Magendie considered quite unaccountable. In 
this state, the patient was fixed by force, and a quantity 
of warm water was injected into a vein in his arm. 
Speedily the symptoms all vanished, and within half-an- 
hour after the operation the patient asked for his rela- 
tions, saw them, conversed calmly with them on his 
affairs, and quite resumed the courage and hope belong- 
ing to his character. It should be observed, that the 
physical state of this patient was very remarkable, other 
disease being implicated with the hydrophobic symp- 
toms, of which disease he died after the hydrophobia 
was apparently cured. 

That a rapid circulation of the blood, from whatever 
cause arising, will produce a general feeling of vivacity, 
provided there be no disease oppressing the brain, is 
evidenced by a great variety of circumstances ; and as a 
general rule it may be observed, that individuals having 



232 INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD 

a slow, full, steady pulse, are tardigrade in their mental 
as well as their bodily operations, and but little disposed 
to sympathize with those who briskly enjoy the gayeties 
of life ; not, indeed, that they are necessarily of melan- 
cholic dispositions ; they may delight themselves in day- 
dreams as habitually as a poet, but instead of a flashing 
and glittering paradise, full of graceful beauty, lively 
music, and dancing, the phantasmagoria of their visions 
will move with the stateliness of a solemn procession 
amid scenery as formal as that of an old English garden. 
It appears as if our feeling of time were, in some man- 
ner, measured by the pulsations of our hearts, which no 
doubt determine the frequency of our breathings; there- 
fore, also, the peculiar motion of the brain, and probably 
the successive impulses of nerve-action on all the mus- 
cles and senses. Of course, our consciousness of exist- 
ence is modified by the sensation thus induced, although 
it is too undefined and indistinct to be described, except in 
such general terms as convey a notion of individualism 
existing in new states; because, in fact, the sensation is 
not felt in connection with any special sense, or with any 
particular organ, but in connection with every part of the 
body at once, and therefore it imparts a peculiar sense 
of self-hood, which fits the individual for sympathy with 
all others in an equal state of excitement. Every sensa- 
tion is both a cause and a consequence of internal action 
— that is, of some change taking place in the blood, under 
the present operation of the mind. But there are sensa- 
tions which arise spontaneously from peculiar conditions 
of the blood, or, more correctly speaking, arising therein 
without any obvious connection with external influences 
such as impress our senses. Now such states of nerve 
or sensation exercise the greatest power over our con- 
duct and thinking, and, indeed, constitute our specific 
temperaments. But they act the more forcibly upon 
us, because they act without our suspecting the con- 



ON MENTAL ACTION. 233 

stancy of their influence, and therefore without our 
endeavoring to restrain them. Hence we learn that 
the habitual dominion of sound moral and religious 
principles — that is, proper belief and right affections — 
can alone secure any suitable degree of control over 
such riotous and susceptible bodies as ours. And thus, 
also, from the felt fact of our incessant dependence on 
causes of mental disturbance, concealed and circulating 
within our very blood, we are taught the wisdom and 
iustice of mutual forbearance, and the equal rights of 
fraternal charity. 

The blood appears to be electrical in its action ; and, 
as it is proved that a current of warm fluid gives out 
electricity by the friction of its passage through small 
tubes, we see at once how well the circulation of the 
blood is calculated to maintain a constant evolution of 
electric power, which, however, we are not justified in 
supposing, according to common opinion, to be always of 
the same kind and character; but we are rather required 
by facts to conclude that it is so modified by life and 
mind, as to act very differently at different times, and 
probably so to enter into new coinbinations, as at differ- 
ent times to operate quite like different agents, just as 
we find the other chemical elements to alter their actions 
according to their combinations. Venous and arterial 
blood widely differ as to their electrical conditions ; and 
there seems to be little doubt that the blood of different 
individuals is also in different states, and that the oppo- 
site sexes are in this respect peculiarly affected, giving 
rise to influences which permeate the nervous system 
in an especial manner, in subservience to the grand ob- 
jects for which man and woman were constituted as as- 
sociates in the holiness of uniting affection and oneness 
of life. During the successive stages of our progress to 
maturity and subsequent decay, the blood also evidently 
varies as to the degrees of vital electricity evolved from 



234 INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD 

it; not only because the vessels themselves, and the 
rate of velocity in the action of the heart alter, but also 
from the chemical state of the blood varying with the 
different periods of life. From this circumstance we 
may probably account for the strikingly injurious effects 
to children and youth in their being allowed to sleep 
with aged persons. They seem to experience what 
Dr. Copland calls " a gradual blight," which can not be 
cured but by the removal of the cause and the cautious 
use of restoratives. The ancient physicians of the He- 
brew nation, if we may judge from their advice in the 
case of King David, appear to have been fully aware of 
the vital power imparted to the infirm by the proximity 
of a person in vigorous health ; but their authority will 
scarcely excuse the bewildered selfishness of those hoary 
remnants of manhood who would endeavor to prolong 
their infirmities by obtaining vigor in a conjugal incon- 
gruity. That the nervous susceptibility or impressibility 
is a condition of nerve which highly favors vividness of 
mental perception, and is intimately connected with a 
peculiar state of blood, and with galvanic action, or some- 
thing nearly allied to it, appears to me to be evinced by 
the remarkable history of Casper Hauser, who from his 
birth, until about his eighteenth year, was confined in a 
dark, narrow cell, and fed only on coarse bread with pure 
water. When at first removed from his prison-world, 
his faculties were scarcely more developed than those of 
a new-born babe. Having been so long confined in dark- 
ness, daylight was intolerable to his eyes, and excited 
universal spasms; and substances which'to others were 
inodorous, produced violent effects on him by their 
powerful smell. That of wine caused severe headache ; 
that of meat excited sickness ; and that of certain flow- 
ers, peculiarly painful sensations. In passing a church- 
yard, the smell thence arising, and which could not be 
detected by his friend, produced a shuddering in him, 



ON MENTAL ACTION. 235 

which terminated in violent fever and perspiration, like 
an ague. For a long time, in consequence of his delicate 
taste and smell, he retained an utter aversion to all ali- 
ment except bread and water. From this circumstance, 
there can be no doubt that his blood was in a peculiar 
state ; but what I wish more particularly to notice is, the 
fact of his nervous susceptibility in consequence of that 
state of blood, and that this susceptibility was remarkably 
evinced in connection with magnetism. Thus, when the 
north pole of a magnet was held near him, he felt a 
drawing sensation, as if a current of air went from him; 
while the south pole seemed to blow upon him. Pro- 
fessor Dauraer and Hermann tried all kinds of experi- 
ments on him, to determine how far fancy might influ- 
ence his feelings, but they always found that his sensa- 
tions correctly indicated which pole of the magnet was 
directed toward him, even at considerable distances. 
He detected metals placed under oil-cloth, etc., as they 
produced the sensation of drawing and a feeling of chill, 
which affected the arm directed toward them, and caused 
the veins of the exposed hand visibly to swell. These 
experiments always produced indisposition. Another 
incident in the psychological history of this individual is 
especially indicative of the influence of the blood on the 
mind : after he had by frequent endeavors surmounted 
the difficulty of eating animal food, and when he began 
to take it regularly, his mental activity began to diminish, 
the expressive brilliancy of his eyes departed, he became 
absent and indifferent, and an intellectual obtuseness took 
the place of excessive sensibility, but this perhaps the 
more readily, from the preceding delicacy of his per- 
ceptions, and the excitement to which he was thence 
incessantly exposed. 

The facts related on the subject of this chapter afford 
us an important lesson, and are sufficient to prove the 
necessity of preserving the blood in a pure and healthy 



236 INFLUENCE OF THE BLOOD, ETC. 

state, if we would continue in the full possession and 
happy exercise of our intellectual faculties, and hence, 
also, in the proper enjoyment of our affections. We 
shall, therefore, now proceed to consider some of the 
meaos by which this most desirable end may be accom- 
plished. A strict regard to the choice of food and drink 
is certainly among the most direct means conducive to 
purity of blood, and therefore the regulation of appetite 
is among the chief of our daily duties, and the due man- 
agement of the stomach a large part of morality ; for as 
Abernethy says, " I tell you honestly what is the cause 
of the complicated madness of the human race : it is 
their gormandizing and stuffing, and stimulating the 
digestive organs to excess, thereby producing nervous 
disorder and irritation." 



CHAPTER XV. 

FOOD- 

As before observed, the study of the stomach is the 
study of morality. By investigating the influence of 
food and drink on our minds, we soon discover the 
strongest motives for self-denial, and learn many a forci- 
ble lesson concerning the nature and extent of our re- 
sponsibility. The results of mismanaging the stomach 
typify all the effects of our abandonment to any other 
propensity ; for it is most evident that if we do not keep 
appetite under control, the right use of our reason is 
abolished, and we become more completely enslaved to 
our lusts than the most groveling beast. The comfort 
and efficiency of intellect, nay, the moral perception, 
manliness, and virtue of the mind depend greatly on our 
use of aliment; and in the very means by which we 
sustain the strength of the body, or most directly disor- 
der its functions, we at the same time either fortify or 
disable the brain, so that we shall be qualified to use our 
faculties with advantage, or else, amid the confusion of 
our sensations, be rendered incapable of rational atten- 
tion. Who has not seen the bright dreams of his morn- 
ing's philosophy clouded by the fumes of a tempting 
table, and the best resolves of calm thoughtfulness lost 
amid the sparklings of wine ? Man has invented most of 
his dangers ; he delights in exposing himself to artificial 
excitements, and he would rather run the risk of perdi- 
tion than not- try the force of temptation ; for alas ! 
since self-confidence first abased him, he has never be- 



238 food. 

lieved that he could not conquer appetite according to 
his knowledge whenever he pleased, until he has found 
his will itself corrupted, aud all his humanity helpless 
and undone. Animal instincts never conduct to such 
dangers ; but the human mind, while it refines the sen- 
sations of the body by its own intensity, aggravates the 
evils amid which it riots, and by its greater capacity for 
pleasure twines the snare most cunningly around the 
soul, and by speculating in sensualities, raises a multi- 
tude of evil spirits, which at first appear in forms of de- 
licious beauty, but as they weary his brain with their 
ceaseless presence, they gradually assume disgusting 
appearances, and as they become more and more hateful, 
he is more and more in earnest to dismiss them, while 
they only the more closely haunt and more thoroughly 
torment him. Reason has been placed by the only wise 
God in the midst of seductive influences, that by thus 
perceiving the slender tenure of her power, she may be 
forced to look above the body for motives to sustain her 
in dominion over appetite. Those who yield to their 
lower propensities so far as to regard their indulgence 
as the end or purpose, instead of the means and appen- 
dage of life, to surfeit rather than to suffice nature, are 
said to make their lusts their gods, because they really 
serve and obey them. Quorum finis interitus, quorum 
JDeus venter, et gloria in dedecore ipsorum. Reason is 
strong only in proportion to her motives. She is next 
to omnipotent in her control over the body when she 
derives her motives from the Almighty. Hence the 
reasonableness of the account of man's first disobedience. 
The test was simple and sufficient. But in order to 
understand its force, we must remember that the temp- 
tation was presented with a false promise of increased 
knowledge and power. It was made reasonable by at 
once appealing to appetite and to the pure self-love 
of our nature • for reason's fall is the distrust of her 



food. 239 

Maker. Therefore, as Byron says, " if we get rid of 
the apple, we are no better off." Such, then, is the 
grand lesson we learn from our necessities being provided 
for in such a manner that the exercise of judgment is re- 
quired to avoid the dangers to which our appetites, un- 
directed by exact instinct, would otherwise surely lead us. 
The education of our appetites, first under the tuition 
of parental care and foresight, and then under the vigi- 
lance of our own reason in the actual experience of good 
and evil, constitutes the very marked distinction between 
a responsible and an instinctive creature. The latter is 
under a law which governs its propensities with undevi- 
ating precision, and which operates as a function of its 
bodily structure, but the former must be dependent on 
obedience to laws belonging to the mind. Man discrim- 
inates as regards known effects, as well as from choice 
of sensation, but the lower creatures have no such choice, 
for instinct is ruled by appetite, but reason by knowledge 
of consequences. Instinct is informed by acuteness of 
sense, and has no power of correcting its impressions by 
reflection; but reason is taught by a sagacity derived 
from the power we possess of comparing appearances 
and estimating realities. Reason is analytical as well as 
logical ; but instinct is neither, but it is merely sensuous, 
and man's mind is little better when he chooses to en- 
joy the present without regard to the future. Hence 
the use and abuse of appetite afford criteria of the state 
and power of our reason. To use the world, without 
abusing it, is the doctrine of Christianity, because it is a 
dispensation which sets our reason right with regard to 
all our appetites, while it introduces our spirits into fel- 
lowship with the Creator, who would have us all enter 
into the fullness of His own satisfaction — that rest in 
goodness which contemplates a universe reposing in the 
peace, glory, and blessing of its Maker ; for to partake of 
the bread of heaven is to feast with God, 



240 FOOD. 

The word appetite has been restricted by common 
usage to express the propensity for food; and probably 
because of its regularity, importance, and power, it fur- 
nishes the strongest metaphor of mental desire, as when 
Lamb speaks of Coleridge looking forward to death as 
if hungering for eternity. This phrase, however, is but 
a poor imitation of the beautiful words, Blessed is he who 
hungers and thirsts after righteousness, for he shall be 
filled. The wise man, in his proverbs, has taught the 
necessity of temperance in all things, by language refer- 
ring only to this desire for food, and his exhortation to us 
to cease from our own wisdom is well enforced by en- 
joining abstinence from deceitful food, as if to intimate 
that truth alone is the proper aliment of the soul. Wis- 
dom and temperance have always been companions, and 
men most famous for the extent and continued energy 
of their faculties, have been so convinced that habitual 
moderation in eating and drinking was essential to the 
full and healthy employment of their intellect, that those 
best known for clearness and elevation of mind have also 
been most remarkable for their control over their ap- 
petites. Sir Isaac Newton is a good example. Dr. 
Cheyne states of him, that when he applied himself to 
the investigation of light and color, to quicken his faculties 
and enable him to fix his attention, he confined himself 
all the time to a small quantity of bread, with a little sack 
and water, without any regulation, except that he took 
a little whenever he felt his animal spirits flag. Here 
we witness true philosophy at work to facilitate its own 
labors ; and we do not wonder to find that the man who, 
when checked in his researches by the imperfection of 
his instruments, set about inventing and manufacturing 
new ones with his own hands, should also resort to the 
best means for sustaining the functions of his brain 
when determined to use it to the extent of its power ; 
and although Celsus informs us that imbecilli stomacho 



FOOD. 241 

pene omnes cupidi liter arum sunt, he knew full well 
that a bad digestion was by no means a real corrob- 
orant of the rational faculties, and however morbidly- 
greedy of books, like the sickly devourers of circulating 
libraries, dyspeptic individuals might become, their weak 
stomachs but little aided to strengthen their judgments, 
or to render them the better qualified to administer to 
the vigorous growth of other minds. Yet, doubtless, as 
the same authority observes, obesus venter non parit 
subtilem, inteliectum, an excessive stomach comports with 
an empty head ; not that a man of fair rotundity, like 
Shakspeare's Justice, can not occasionally think with suf- 
ficient clearness for peaceful and epicurean purposes, but 
simply because the soul of a man fully alive to the great 
policies of existence must move his affections and his in- 
tellect too busily in their working on his nerves, and ex- 
pend the vitality of his blood too rapidly to allow him to 
take his ease at long meals, and to accumulate a burden 
of flesh to impede alike both his body and his mind. The 
happy medium which Newton endeavored to maintain 
was just that which would preserve the blood in the fit- 
test state for the purposes of the mind while intently 
acting on the brain ; and probably not a little of the 
splendid clearness of his demonstrations may be attrib- 
uted to the success with which he controlled all his 
bodily propensities, by the moderation which he inva- 
riably observed in the management of his stomach. 

Many remarkable individuals have been carried by 
their notions of temperance to most intemperate ex- 
tremes, and by needlessly abstaining from the use of 
certain foods, and restricting themselves to very small 
cjuantities, have endeavored to secure the favor of God 
ancb'the admiration of men. If, indeed, by such ab- 
stemiousness the soul could attain completer mastery 
over the body, and be thus enabled to dwell more con- 
stantly in the region of pure thought, it would be wise, it 
16 



242 food. 

would be happy ; for though the favor of God is not thus 
purchased, simply because love can not be bought, yet 
impediments to its reception may be thus removed, and 
the faculties of the mind be rendered more capable of 
investigating and enjoying the divine character. But 
that soul must be ripe for heaven, and ready to depart, 
which, when living on the verge of starvation, finds itself 
more disposed to think of celestial delights than of earthly 
dainties ; and, doubtless, most men would find it any 
thing but a help to holy contemplation to deny them- 
selves the means of comfortable enjoyment. In truth, 
any endeavor to detach the affections from things that 
perish in the using, will be entirely unsuccessful, unless 
the grand change has already passed upon the soul, 
causing it to feel affection for objects not perceived by 
the senses. Then, no doubt, a good degree of ascetic 
excellence may be acquired; for the spirit has already 
conquered the chief temptations of the body, and may 
soon confirm itself in the habit of supremacy, so that the 
functions of physical life shall be carried on with less 
waste of substance and less demand for food, while at 
the same time the mind may fall into a monotonous 
quietism, a dreamy bliss, from which it would be most 
painful to be awakened by the jarring sensualities, the 
business, the bustle, and the strife of everyday life. 
That the habit of comparative starvation is less injurious 
to health than gross indulgence, appears from the ages 
to which many fasting enthusiasts have attained. St. 
Anthony lived to the age of one hundred and five years, 
and St. Paphinus to ninety, on dry bread and water ^St. 
Paul the Hermit arrived at the extreme age oj 
hundred and fifty-nine, on dates alone. We caj 
test these and similar cases by weight and measuTOpis 
Liebig would desire, yet we can not doubt their general 
truth, since all evidence assures us that the secret of 
longevity is to be found in sustaining the vital functions 



food. 243 

in healthy action with the least stimulus. A waste of 
power is improvidence, and that body will last the long- 
est that is least agitated by mental perturbations, and is 
kept slowly and gently at its proper work. The express 
object, however, of these gradual martyrdoms was not 
so much to secure the benefit of the corpus sanum as for 
the sake of the mens sana, or rather, perhaps, that both 
soul and body might have a better resurrection. But 
the means best fitted for the one insures the advantage 
of the other also; and a most rigid regard to the kind 
and quantity of food, according to individual tempera- 
ment, would prevent the body from oppressing the soul 
with that weight of carnality which so often causes man, 
who ought to go nobly erect, with his face toward heav- 
en, to crawl prone on the dust, instead of walking with 
vigorous step in the light and liberty intended for him. 
It has been said, and probably with truth, that food has 
a higher bearing on the mind than on the physical frame 
of man. But this can only be in as far as the moral and 
intellectual being is dependent on the health and devel- 
opment of the body for its manifestation. We can not 
question that diet and regimen so influence the constitu- 
tion as to cause all the degrees of difference between the 
fullest vigor and the utmost feebleness ; and as the en- 
joyment and capacity of the intellect require a competent 
power of body and a state of comfort, which depend on 
a due supply of suitable blood, and consequent nervous 
energy, as shown in the preceding chapter, it of course 
follows, that whatever disturbs the digestive process, ana 
thus vitiates nutrition, must in a corresponding manner 
disorder sensation, introducing pain where there should, 
be only pleasure, and a tendency to fretfulness and dis- 
content where cheerfulness and hilarity would be the 
natural consequence of a full supply ofv healthy blood. 
It would be scarcely consistent, however, with physiol- 
ogy to adopt the suggestions which Milton so poetical- 



244 food. 

\y persuades the angel visitant of unfallen man to ex- 

Time may come, when men 

With angels may participate, and find 

No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare; 

And from these corporal nutriments, perhaps, 

Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit, 

Improved by tract of time, and wing'd, ascend, 

Ethereal, as we ; or may, at choice, 

Here or in heavenly paradises dwell: 

If ye be found obedient, and retain, 

Unalterably firm, his love entire, 

Whose progeny you are. Meanwhile enjoy — " 

The nfhience of diet on the moral and intellectual 
character of children has been extensively observed, be- 
cause thby present the best opportunity of witnessing 
the direct effects of bodily condition on temper, their 
feelings being undisguised. Of course, as their bodies 
are in the process of formation, their mental habits are 
also forming ; and it is of vast importance that this sub- 
ject should be well understood. It is, however, unfor- 
tunately, but little regarded in general, and education is 
conducted more frequently as a plan by which the mind 
may be forced into any shape by fear, than as a matter 
the success of which will be proportioned to the care 
with which the body is treated and the faculties encour- 
aged, according to physical fitness for mental enjoyment. 
The work of mental improvement should commence by 
improving the body. Let the soul be happy in its home, 
and it will soon expatiate amid ever varying ideas, and 
be ready to sympathize with all those who will lead it 
out to contemplate and enjoy the facts of creation and of 
history. This is the whole mystery of education. It has 
been proved, by comparisons among large numbers of 
children, that those brought up in poverty and privation, 
having of course a bad physical condition, are much more 
torpid in intellect and irritable in temper than children of 



food. 245 

the same age who have been better fed and cared for. 
Under the best and kindest teachers, the former can not 
keep pace in mental advancement with the latter. This 
incapacity may be hereditary ; for, alas ! not the least 
among the numerous miseries of abject poverty is the 
physical deprivation which fastens on the souls of its 
children a tendency to mental aberration and degenera- 
cy, by depraving the bodily constitution. We scarcely 
wonder that the wan and withered young mother, in 
whose breast starvation has dried up the fountain of 
nature's charity, should look with tearless but bloodshot 
eye upon her dead baby, and thank God for taking it 
away. This is no imagined possibility, but a bare, hor- 
rible, frequent fact. There are many such mothers, 
who, because labor is paid so grudgingly, witness no 
charm in the domestic circle ; and many more who, 
after watching their infants through atrophies produced 
by their own hunger, have been rewarded for their af- 
fection and anxiety by the fierce ill temper thus engen- 
dered in the boy or girl, whom neither weary wife nor 
cheerless husband has the wisdom or good-feeling to 
soothe and manage ; for, inured to the wretchedness of 
finding no pity from nominal Christians, they, too, seem 
to escape from the keener sensibilities of soul by indul- 
gence in sensualities. Their moral nature has been starved 
by those whom God required to act as neighbors to them. 
Yet it is wonderful to see how the kindly affections gen- 
erally triumph over these terrible evils of life, and how 
the noblest feelings flourish in the midst of the deepest 
poverty. Thanks be unto God, the poor have still a 
mighty faith in Him who feeds the sparrows, and in 
each other, too ; so that they will, most of them, cheer- 
fully divide the last small loaf with the needier, and then 
trust to Providence for the next meal. 

Physiologically considered, starvation seems to act on 
the brain, by causing a vitiation of the blood, similar to 



246 food. 

that which occurs in fever ; and, indeed, that fever with 
delirium is the direct effect of insufficient food, history 
furnishes many proofs, in the consequences of war, espe- 
cially among the besieged. But we need not look far 
back to search the records of history for such effects of 
starvation ; we see them nearer home, in the cellars of 
Liverpool, and the cabins of Ireland. Insufficient or 
improper food, although enough, perhaps, to maintain a 
feverish and infirm life, will so disorder the nervous 
functions as to impede mental action, to such a degree, 
that moral purposes can not be consistently followed 
out. Those affections which bind hearts together, and 
enable them to bear all burdens with hope, thus become 
benumbed in despair. A sort of moral paralysis is often 
witnessed in the extreme of want; and I have known 
the memory of a loving mother, without any other disease 
than starvation, so completely disordered, by want of 
blood, as absolutely to forget that she had an infant. Still 
her love was strong, even to agony, as evinced by prayers 
and sighs when her attention was recalled from the ob- 
liviousness of inane delirium to the presence and un- 
satisfied demands of her little one. Shall we feel sur- 
prised to read in the newspaper of some untutored 
mother, in the wildness of her many woes, turned away 
starving from the door of the union-house with an ex- 
hausted heart, leaving her babe to perish on the cold 
ground ? She has experienced only treachery where 
she trusted most heartily, and believing, from the dic- 
tates of her bosom, that the helpless could not plead in 
vain for shelter and food, she has sought relief and found 
it not. Physiology teaches us, common sense assures 
us, that desperation must result. With such a fainting 
pulse, and such habits of strong feeling, where shall she 
find hope ? As long as she felt her blood in her glowing 
bosom, she fed her babe with her own life, and believed 
in Providence. But now all humanity, and even her 



food. 247 

own nature, her untutored reason, and her very instincts 
fail her. What proof has she that God is love ? Job 
could curse the day in which he was born, but out of 
the whirlwind he heard the voice of Jehovah ; this poor 
woman can only cast back her all, her whole wretched 
being, upon the hand of Him who gave it. He will re- 
quire her blood and the blood of her offspring, from those 
to whom He committed the gospel of His charity, and 
what shall they answer ? 

All our knowledge of blood and nerve, and of the pur- 
poses they are to fulfill in regard to the human soul in 
this world of wants and supplies, if it be worth any thing, 
proves to us one great truth — namely, that the dwelling 
of misery is not the home of virtue. Domestic comfort 
and privation are contradictions, and the wants of the 
body must be satisfied before the soul can find leisure 
for abstractions. It is a vain and aggravating mockery to 
preach, in words only, the doctrines of peace and loving- 
kindness where fathers and mothers and children cling 
together in rags and squalor and hunger. No doubt among 
such are often found the most heroic examples of Chris- 
tian manliness and affection, but alas ! there also dwells 
with misery every form of reckless viciousness. But 
what has that to do with your conduct, O man of com- 
fortable morality ? What self-denial have you practiced 
for the benefit of your brother ? It is true that the Gospel 
supplies aliment for the deathless spirit, and enables it to 
bear wisely, meekly, nay, even happily, the famishing of 
the body. We have witnessed its triumph in such a case, 
where disease actually caused death by starvation ; but 
still the best harbingers of the Gospel are food and cloth- 
ing, and all the visible evidences of sympathizing human 
heartiness. Be ye warmed, be ye clothed, be ye fed, are 
words, not practical faith ; but providing the means for 
those who need them is true living godliness, which no- 
where teaches men to take verbally even truth itself, 



248 FOOD. 

much less wordy trash, as a substitute for bread. He 
who fed the multitude of famishing unbelievers in the 
desert of Arabia with daily showers of angels' food, 
will not have men convinced by miracle alone, but also 
with common mercy ; and therefore the power and the 
goodness are seen together, as in Him who is our spirit- 
ual bread, and who taught us what H e meant by loving our 
neighbor as ourselves. If, then, we would have the heart 
open to faith, we must appeal to it through charity and 
hope, nor think to prove our interest in the souls of men, 
without doing our very best to render the body a com- 
fortable abode for the sublime and mysterious tenant. 
Religion may well appear like madness to a starving 
wretch who merely hears a talk of contentment and pa- 
tience ; but this happily rarely occurs, for without doubt 
those who are most ready to dispense the glad tidings 
are also the first to help the necessitous in every way. 
Those who would be useful in erecting the fallen spirit 
of humanity, should not for a moment forget that corpo- 
real want thoroughly unfits the mind for attention to its 
higher necessities. In fact, insufficiency of proper food 
has been proved, on a large scale in our public lunatic asy- 
lums, to be a prevalent exciting cause of insanity as well 
as of crime, and it has been found that many of those ab- 
ject beings, whom man's inhumanity to man has long al- 
lowed to subsist on a starving dietary, have labored under 
madness which required only a prudent and well regula- 
ted supply of generous food for its cure. Such a fact can 
be well understood when we reflect on what physiology 
informs us of the manner in which the brain is built up 
and kept in action by the blood ; and that, therefore, if 
this pabulum of life and nervous energy be deficient, either 
in quantity or quality, as well as habitually misemployed, 
then, of course, sensation, perception, idealization, and 
reasoning are so far liable to disorder ; and, of course, also, 
as the principles of morality are grounded in rational con- 



food, 249 

victions and consequent habits of body, it will be unreas- 
onable for us to expect a family to dwell together in moral 
harmony, unless divine truth has governed their affec- 
tions before want entered. 

Sameness of diet is also prejudicial to the mental fac- 
ulties, especially if conjoined with a monotonous manner 
of life. This fact is strikingly demonstrated by the fre- 
quency of hypochondriasis or depression of spirits among 
the inhabitants of the western islands of Scotland, and 
more particularly still among those of Iceland, as testi- 
fied in the former case by Dr. Macculloch, and in the 
latter by Dr. Holland. We are instructed by these cir- 
cumstances to observe the importance of variety in our 
aliment, and to admire the goodness of Providence that 
supplies such a diversity of objects for every sense, and 
thus teaches us that our Maker considers our true en- 
joyment as the end of His plans in creation ; and therefore 
we should endeavor to avoid too restricted a mode of life 
as we would the bonds of slavery : and that not only for 
our own good, but for the benefit also of our offspring. 
Probably as the intellect of man can not be fully developed 
without free intercourse with every variety of mind, nor 
that of society without international commerce, so nei- 
ther can the body attain and preserve its best state with- 
out occasional change in the kind of food, such as the 
diversities of climate and of season are intended to pro- 
duce. 

Although Galen perhaps rather unduly estimated the 
benefits of regimen when he desired the philosophers 
to send all bad characters to him, yet no fact is better 
established than that diet greatly modifies the temper. 
Those who, conjoining gastronomic industry with gen 
eral idleness, acquire dyspeptic acidity of stomach, com- 
monly know, also, from experience, the meaning of a 
sour disposition ; and those in whom good-humor still so 
far prevails over bad blood as that they carry a pleasant 



250 FOOD, 

countenance, yet feel, when gout is brewing in their 
veins, as if some evil spirit had possession of them, since 
the slightest circumstance that interferes with their 
pleasure throws them into sudden rage. The condition 
of blood which precedes gout is so constantly associated 
with irascibility, that John Hunter says gout and anger 
are almost synonymous with some persons. Indeed, it 
seems that what generally goes under the name of irri- 
tability is essentially a disorder of the blood, which oper- 
ates as a felt inconvenience, an unnatural stimulus, dis- 
turbing the proper action of the brain, and rendering it 
unfit to be employed for the ordinary purposes of the 
mind. Unless bodily activity accompany free living, this 
state is sure to be induced, as students are generally 
aware; for beef and stimulants freely enjoyed very short- 
ly reduce the faculties to confusion, unless by violent ex- 
ercise the waste of the body is, in some measure, pro- 
portioned to the supply. The tiger in his cage becomes 
more wretched and restless if allowed two meals a-day 
instead of one ; and even the gentlest of creatures that 
ever graced a drawing-room, will become the most sple- 
netic and pitiable of wives, if, shut up by indolence or fash- 
ion from the free use of her limbs, she indulge her appe- 
tite, without, at the same time, fulfilling the especial pur- 
poses for which she is a woman. Healthy mothers who 
suckle their own offspring are well known to be happier 
and more amiable than others, not because their tempers 
are not tried, but because their blood is in a better state 
to bear their daily vexations. Cerebral excitement, how- 
ever, may be due either to deficiency or to redundancy 
of blood, and it is quite certain that, without respect to 
its quantity, its chemical condition alone will alter its in- 
fluence on the brain. It is probable, however, that in 
extreme cases of excitement some powerful emotion kin- 
dles a flame of which the bad blood furnishes the fuel. In 
phrensy, the character of the individual is rather inten- 



FOOD. 251 

sified than changed, the state of affection in which the 
malady may have seized the patient continuing in gener- 
al throughout the disease. Whenever we witness undue 
excitement, we may be certain that there is something 
wrong in the physical, as well as in the moral state. It 
is important to act upon this fact, for much crime and 
misery will be prevented by advice and assistance calcu- 
lated to remove the causes of this condition. 

There are a number of curious stories among old wri- 
ters, in relation to the influence of certain meats upon 
the imagination ; but we can not regard them as facts, or, 
at least, not as in relation to cause and effect. Senner- 
tus, a learned physician, relates that a young woman of 
Breslau being struck with epilepsy on seeing a malefac- 
tor's head cut off, was, when all other remedies had fail- 
ed, persuaded to drink the blood of a cat. She soon 
after began to cry and jump like a cat, and to hunt for 
mice, with silent watchfulness, at their holes. He gives 
another case of one who, being fed on swine's blood, took 
especial pleasure in wallowing in the mire ; and of an- 
other who, on eating the brains of a bear, became of a 
bearlike disposition. We know, however, that the ma- 
gicians among the ancients went further than this, and 
pretended — with how much truth we can not say — that 
they possessed the power of altering the imagination of 
a man, so that he should fancy himself any kind of bird 
or beast, and imitate, in his madness, the movements and 
voices of such creatures. Baptista Porta tells, that one 
method of accomplishing this was, by mixing a portion 
of a powerful narcotic poison — solarium manicum, or 
mandrake — with the brain of such animal as it was de- 
sired should infest the fancy of the party who swallowed 
it. He affirms that he tried this poison on one of his 
comrades, who had gormandized a large quantity of beef, 
who forthwith imagined himself surrounded with bulls 
rushing on him with their horns. 



252 food. 

However we may regard such testimony, it is no doubt 
true, that the constant use of animal food ill qualifies the 
mind for literary application, since it produces blood 
which is very readily converted into muscle, and which, 
therefore, stimulates the brain to the desire of bodily 
action. Hence those who live by the chase alone have 
vast delight in it, and are peculiarly indisposed for stu- 
dious occupation ; they become ill tempered unless re- 
duced by violent exercise. We can scarcely imagine a 
philosopher living on horseflesh like a Tartar, or on buf- 
falo meat, like a Red Indian ; and it is a fact, that these 
tribes appear incapable of civilization until they acquire 
the habit of using a less stimulating diet, and begin to 
cultivate the fruits of the earth for their own use. The 
effect is not due merely to quieter objects thus suggested 
to their minds, as might be imagined, but really to the 
state of their blood. The difference in the success of 
Christian missionaries among such people, and among 
those whose chief sustenance is farinaceous, is veiy strik- 
ing, and worthy of especial notice. In the East and in 
the Polynesia, literature and Christian doctrines are 
seized on with avidity ; but in vain were the most ear- 
nest labors of the best men to introduce reading and 
writing among the American Indians, until they had 
first been taught to sow corn and to eat bread. Thus it 
appears that the excitement of destructiveness is not only 
prejudicial to peace but also to intellect, and the height 
of barbarity is the height of discomfort. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



FASTING. 



It may be asked, if the effects of forced abstemious- 
ness on the mind are so detrimental, as shown in the 
last chapter, how happens it that fasting has been enjoin- 
ed as a religious duty ? Occasional abstinence and star- 
vation are, however, vastly different things ; the former 
may relieve and invigorate nature, but the latter, without 
doubt, must sap the very sources of life and power. But 
the influence even of the most moderate abstinence will 
be modified by the mental state at the time, and the 
purpose and direction of the will in this, as in other duties, 
will determine the amount of benefit to be derived from 
it. If the soul be not calmed by fasting, it will be irritat- 
ed and confused ; but as we find some individuals sooth- 
ed by debility, and exhibiting, even in great suffering, a 
moral serenity which in vigorous health they never ex- 
hibited, while others, under the same circumstances, 
become morose and unmanly, so under the influence of 
fasting, we should naturally expect to witness opposite 
consequences, because, in fact, the same causes are 
operating under opposite conditions. The mind of one 
is fretting, it may be, over what it has lost ; and the 
mind of the other, inspired by a divine hope, struggling 
on to the attainment of some spiritual elevation, some 
intellectual and moral dignity, of which he is well assur- 
ed if he but endure to that end. 

If there be a demand for bodily exertion during pro- 



254 FASTING. 

longed fasting, the sense of weariness and languor, in 
short, the entire unfitness of the muscular frame and 
nervous system for physical effort, must produce bad 
temper; therefore the poet rightly says — 

" And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, 
Spare Fast, that with the gods doth diet." 

Sir John Franklin, in his " Journey to the Polar Sea," 
describes his party, after they had been reduced by want 
of food to extreme weakness, but yet obliged to exert 
themselves on their homeward way like true men, as 
forcing themselves to converse, with parched lips and 
tongues, to avoid, as far as possible, reverting to their 
dreadful situation. " I observed," he says, '■* that in pro- 
portion as our strength decayed, our minds exhibited 
symptoms of weakness, evinced by a kind of unreason- 
able pettishness with each other. Each of us thought the 
other weaker in intellect than himself, and more in need 
of advice and assistance. So trifling a circumstance 
as a change of place, recommended by one as being 
warmer or more comfortable, and refused by the other 
from a dread of motion, frequently called forth fretful 
expressions, which were no sooner uttered than atoned 
for, to be repeated perhaps in a few minutes. The same 
thing often occurred when we were endeavoring to as- 
sist each other in carrying wood to the fire ; none of us 
were willing to receive assistance. On one of these oc- 
casions, Hepburn was so convinced of this waywardness, 
that he exclaimed, ' Dear me ! I wonder if we shall ever 
recover our understanding !'" What a beautiful lesson 
to teach us mutual forbearance in our mutual weakness ! 
This pettishness, like that of children weary with their 
play, is natural to us all, when the mind can not employ 
the body agreeably ; for to be excited to any exertion 
in this state is to be more feelingly aware of bodily in- 
capacity. The soul wants rest, or, rather, the order of 
Providence indicates that the body should be left to re- 



FASTING. 255 

pose when exhausted ; and if it can not perfectly rest, 
the mind nevertheless gets into a dreamy state, and 
busies itself with fancies, or seeks its own satisfaction in 
reverie or partial delirium. There is a curious fact in 
connection with this withdrawal of the mind from the 
consciousness of bodily distress, which physiology quite 
fails to explain — a state the very reverse of the real cir- 
cumstances is enjoyed in thought. Captain Franklin 
states, that their dreams, when they fell asleep with the 
acute pains of hunger upon them, were usually of a 
pleasant character, being often about the enjoyments of 
feasting. This debilitated state of the body, however, is 
attended by a peculiar mental absence, even when most 
awake, so long as the will is not directed to the muscles. 
The individual bodily condition is lost sight of; hence, 
in this brave party, each thought the others more in 
need of assistance than himself — an extremely interest- 
ing proof of the Divine Benevolence anticipating the 
trials of our constitution, by providing in the constitution 
itself the means of escaping from them. Perhaps it 
may not be impertinent here to put a question to the 
advocates of mental duality. When the person had 
given hasty expression to his fretfulness, and then in- 
stantly discovered its impropriety, are we to conclude 
that one ego perceived and endeavored to atone for the 
other's injustice ? Then, again, we learn that these 
fine fellows, in spite of their better judgment, ate too 
much after their starvation. Must we suppose that one 
cerebral ego produced the prudence, and the other the 
appetite? Let us consider the causes of their state: 
anxiety, fatigue, cold, starvation — in short, misery and 
diseased blood, such as we see too much of in this land. 
Now could these causes act on only one side of a man's 
brain at a time ? Did the cerebra take it in turns to 
suffer, or did these causes operate on the whole nervous 
system at once ? When these questions are answered 



256 FASTING. 

in consistence with the dual theory of mind, then we 
have others to put. 

A fact recorded in Captain Franklin's narrative will 
easily conduct us back to our observations on fasting. It 
appears that the captain and his party fortified their 
souls by reading the Bible, as their best resource in 
their greatest troubles. They found it answer admira- 
bly. The man, also, who habitually enjoyed the truths 
of that wonderful book, was he whose conduct was most 
exemplary. He best endured the famishing process, 
and was the last to yield to fret-fulness and the first to 
help others. That man was Hepburn. Hence the im- 
portance of mental habit and intention. It is curious 
to observe how gradually the rough Canadians who ac- 
companied the expedition dropped their profane swear- 
ing, and assumed a sort of meekness, as their spirits 
drooped under starvation and the fear of death ; but the 
pious men only evinced more confidence every day. It 
seemed impossible for them to give up hope ; though 
their strength decayed and every exertion was irksome, 
and the greatest effort was necessary in order to rise 
from their seats, and they were obliged to help each 
other to accomplish this, yet they conversed cheerfully, 
as if sure of the speedy arrival of help. The deduction 
from all these facts is manifestly in keeping with our 
former observations. Fasting, to be advantageous to 
the mind and promotive of its spiritual advancement, 
must be accompanied by such employment of its facul- 
ties as tends to soothe and elevate the spirit. The testi- 
mony of a savage to a fact is sometimes as good as that 
of a philosopher. When an Indian chief wishes to 
meditate on any great plan, he says, "I can not yet see 
the future ; I must fast and pray that the great Master 
of life may give me wisdom." Can we trace any con- 
nection between this custom and the direction to Esdras? 
" Go into a field of flowers where no house is, and eat 



FASTING. 257 

only the flowers ; taste no flesh, drink no wine, and pray 
unto the Highest continually, and I will come and talk 
with thee."— (2 Esdras, ix. 23.) 

Fasting must, indeed, have been practiced as a devout 
duty long anterior to any profane record, and it was 
probably practiced from the time of man's expulsion from 
paradise, as if to show that as seductive appetite first 
led to disobedience, so access to heaven was not to be 
attained in man's own desires and powers, but through 
the renunciation of even the necessary satisfactions of 
earth, that the soul might be supplied with spiritual 
aliment and strength from heaven. At least we learn 
from sacred history, that those who spake as they were 
prompted by the Holy Spirit were often directed to ab- 
stain from all " pleasant bread." As we can not ima- 
gine that the God of the prophets directed a useless or 
incongruous service, the fact that fasting was, under 
certain circumstances, enjoined, unquestionably indicates 
that abstinence favors the production of a peculiar fitness 
of mind for the admittance of divine illumination, at least 
when the soul is prepared by^its knowledge and its faith 
for that exaltation which such a privilege implies. 

True religion enjoins abstinence only in connection 
with meditation and prayer. This is reasonable, but it 
would be the reverse to require exertion from an ex- 
hausted body ; and the attempt would but conduce to 
imbecility, if not to crime, for it is the testimony of 
terrible experience that want leads not only to mental 
but to moral madness when the soul flies not to the Al- 
mighty for sustentation. A gross and inordinate supply 
of food may be compatible with fat, contented ignorance, 
and even with the best good-humor and openness of 
character, so long as full employment for the body is 
found in the open air ; but to require exertion all the 
day long from man, or woman, or child, with insufficiency 
of food, whether in the factory or the field, is to cause 
17 



258 FASTING. 

morbid sensations, and to suggest ideas of destructive- 
ness, as surely as hunger rouses the lion to seek his prey. 
That fasting, even when under the supposed authority of 
religion, kindles the murderous passions in those who 
are not habituated to self-control and the devotedness 
of holy motives, is largely exemplified by the information 
of those who have traveled in superstitious countries. 
Thus the author of Eothen, who, though anonymous, is 
evidently well informed, states that the fasts of the Greek 
church produce an ill effect upon the character of the 
people, for they are carried to such an extent as to bring 
on febrile irritation, with depression of spirits, and a 
fierce desire for the perpetration of dark crimes. Hence 
the number of murders is greater during Lent than at 
any other time of the year. 

Notwithstanding the detection of many fasting im- 
postors, we are bound to confess that the power of con- 
tinuing a long period without food is not incompatible 
with what we know of vital possibility. Dr. Willan at- 
tended a patient who took only a little water flavored 
with orange juice for sixty-one days ; but more marvel- 
ous still, cases of abstinence from solid food for ten, 
fifteen, or eighteen years are unimpeachably testified. 
Certain conditions of the nervous system are, however, 
recorded as attending these fastings, and this circum- 
stance, while it confirms the credibility of such state- 
ments, tends also to explain them by bringing them 
within physiological principles. We know that in cata- 
lepsy, or trance, and some forms of madness, the vital 
actions are so much diminished that individuals may 
exist without food for a considerable time ; and it is not 
impossible that exalted and ecstatic states of mind may 
so alter the functions of the body, as to fit them to bear 
prolonged fasting with impunity, or even with benefit. A 
state of body is certainly thus sometimes produced which 
is nearly analogous to the torpor of the lower animals— 



FASTING. 259 

a condition utterly inexplicable on any principle taught 
in the schools. Who, for instance, can inform us how it 
happens that certain fishes may be suddenly frozen in the 
polar sea, and so remain during the long winter, and yet 
be requickened into full activity by returning summer? 

We possess testimony sufficient to prove that the habit 
of abstinence, when favored by rest and a peculiar tem- 
perament of mind, may so modify the nervous power as 
to permit the exercise of thought while the other func- 
tions are nearly suspended. The soul seems to work 
out its own desires in such cases, since it meets with no 
impediment in the use of the body, being employed en- 
tirely without attention to the physical state. Hence it 
happens that all sorts of visions, in the strangest combi- 
nations which imagination can present, have crowded 
upon the mental sight of persons who thus prepared 
themselves by abstinence, rest, and meditation. Their 
visions have been always according to the previous habit 
of their intellect and morals, nor dare we say that the 
soul has never thus been permitted to look beyond its 
ordinary horizon, to behold the truths of another region 
and of a future state. 

A degree of abstemiousness is, by all reasonable per- 
sons, allowed to be favorable to mental effort, but an oc- 
casional fast is also found, in certain constitutions, to in- 
vigorate both mind aud body. It seems to give time for 
the functions to complete their work, and then to rest 
for a while. Fasting, for a moderate period, diminishes 
the carbon in the blood, and thus prevents drowsiness, 
while promoting a free circulation of highly vitalized 
blood through the brain ; and as on this kind of supply 
the ready power of the mind depends, a clearness and 
rapidity of perception may reasonably be expected under 
such circumstances, provided the muscles are not much 
in demand. Those who by mental habit can take ad- 
vantage of this state may then attain the highest ecstasy 



260 FASTING. 

of meditative abstraction. Probably the greater number 
of persons who think themselves morally and physically 
in health, would find how greatly they are mistaken if 
they could but be induced to bring their appetites more 
into subjection, and wait for something like an urgent 
demand for nourishment before they indulged in eating. 
Instead of submitting to custom, and regularly resorting 
to the table three or four times a-day for the mere grati- 
fication of the palate, the wise plan would be sometimes 
completely to break through the habit, and enjoy the 
quickening power of a rational will triumphing over 
animal appetite. Thus health of body and mental for- 
titude, which together constitute the best assurance of 
intellectual power, may be equally promoted. Apollonius 
Tyaneus well defended himself from the accusation of 
holding intercourse with the devil, by attributing his clear 
and prescient judgment to abstemiousness and simplicity 
of diet. " This mode of life," says he, " has produced 
such perspicuity of ideas, that I see, as in a glass, things 
past and future." The influence of occasional abstinence 
from all food for a day or so in healthy persons, is seen 
in the well known fact that soldiers fight most heartily 
on an empty stomach. The blood is probably rendered 
more stimulating, and, the brain being less oppressed, 
and the lungs for the time being able to act more freely 
than when the diaphragm is pressed on, the muscular 
s3>-stem, on the state of which physical courage so much 
depends, is exercised with the greatest advantage, and thus 
whatever moral courage the individual may possess is 
called into action with the fewest personal impediments. 

In the training of armies, as well as in the training of 
other prize-fighters, whether human or gallinacious, the 
feeding is the principal thing, for thus the propensity of 
destructiveness is best prepared for extraordinary activity 
when stimulated by hunger, as we see in all beasts of prey. 

In order, however, to prepare the body and mind for 



FASTING. 261 

their greatest efforts, it would be most consistent with 
physiology to take a moderate quantity of food and drink 
after a moderate period of abstinence ; for we know that 
the effect of food on the mind is mainly determined by 
the previous condition of the body. How slight a sup- 
ply will produce great effects on persons reduced by 
fasting, is well exemplified in the history of Captain 
Bligh and his hardy companions, when cast adrift by the 
mutineers of the " Bounty." 

The manner in which semi-starvation and the habit of 
using stimulants may cause the increase of crime, by dis- 
ordering the brain, and aggravating temptation, is proba- 
bly explained by such facts. The principle of increasing 
the deranging influence of stimulants by previous ex- 
haustion was formerly acted on in Eastern warfare. 
When horsemen were required in any peculiarly dan- 
gerous enterprise, it was the usual practice to subject 
them previously to a long fast, and then to intoxicate 
and let them loose. It is also reported, with what truth 
we know not, that certain Jesuits, when they required a 
man to engage in desperate deeds, shut him up in a large 
chamber, which they called the chamber of meditation, 
the darkness of which was just made visible by a very 
small taper. Here he was kept without food or drink 
for a whole day. A medicated draught was then given 
him, and thus he went forth prepared for any diabolical 
errand. 

Moderation in the use of food is a far better remedy 
than medicine for an oppressed state of the circulation, 
whether arising from disease, or redundancy of supply. 
Fasting is the natural cure of repletion, and it is a curi- 
ous circumstance, that abstinence is so frequently forced 
upon those savage tribes who are addicted to excess, 
such as the American Indians and New Zealand ers 
Their diseases are but few, except where they approach 
the confines of civilization, and in some measure adopt 



262 FASTING. 

those habits which nature has rendered uncongenial to 
them. Among civilized nations, the use of purgatives 
is gradually taking the place of fasting. Hence the suc- 
cess of quackery in the aperient department among the 
English and Americans. We are an energetic people, 
and can not be comfortable without abundant nourish- 
ment ; but then, taking very refined food in large quan- 
tity, without sufficient intervals of abstinence, we find 
our brains and our bowels both miserably sluggish, and 
then the pill-box supplies a handy sort of remedy for ills 
that common sense should have prevented. " The per- 
istaltic persuaders" of the gourmand are as essential to 
his happiness as is his dinner; but not only do these 
gross livers need such helps: the exquisite poet must 
also resort to the apothecary to antidote the cook. By- 
ron says, " The thing that gives me the highest spirits 
is a dose of salts." It diminished that congestion and 
irritability of his brain w r hich his habits tended to keep 
up. He was at one period of his life epileptic; but he 
subdued the malady by extreme abstinence, frequently 
taking only vinegar and potatoes as his dinner. When 
he indulged in good living, and took stimulants, disorder 
of the brain returned in another form, and his temper 
became morose. It was then that a dose of salts cheered 
him. Brisk purgatives often relieve melancholy, and 
that most powerful one, hellebore, was the ancient spe- 
cific for this disease, which generally arises from con- 
gestion of the liver and bowels causing an impure state 
of the blood. The frequency of a condition approaching 
to this is the secret of the demand for universal medi- 
cines, in the shape of strong purgatives. Here is the 
evil; many good men, who read and think pretty much, 
and fancy they understand physiology, because they 
have read about the blood, prove their ignorance of it 
by taking little exercise, and dolefully mismanaging their 
stomachs. They forget that moderation in eating and 



FASTING. 263 

drinking, as well as meditation, is a Christian duty, and 
that fresh air, cheerful society, and an occasional fast, 
would more effectually relieve the burthenecf viscera 
than a whole box of vegetable pills. Instances are not 
uncommon, even among the highly, but yet partially 
educated, in which some real malady has fixed upon 
the vitals, and those pills are swallowed in large quan- 
tities with manifest mischief. It is a matter of feeling, 
not of reasoning, with such persons. Their faith in the 
efficacy of the vaunted vegetables is grounded on igno- 
rance, and confirmed by their sensations. Thus I have 
known a consumptive patient, of strong mind, obstinate- 
ly persist in taking the pills, because they made him feel 
better, lighter, more cheerful, more happy. Of course, 
argument falls dead before such facts. Thus, in such 
forlorn cases, diarrhoea and purgatives hasten on the 
fatal issue ; but then, by these means, the patients are 
kept just in that state which the highest degree of ab- 
stinence produces ; their bodies waste and waste, but 
their souls are full of bright thoughts, as long as exertion 
is avoided. The habit of their minds becomes exalted 
by holy reading, it may be, and there is not blood enough 
in their veins to excite their passions, or to call their 
muscles into action. There is only just fuel enough to 
keep alive a clear flame, until the fire burns quite out. 
Such patients feel brighter and brighter to the last, and 
the pills, say they, are the cause of it all. These are 
taken again and again ; exhaustion proceeds, but they 
go on to feel better, that is, lighter ; the body is no imped- 
iment, except from weakness ; so they continue taking 
the pills, and feeling better and better, until they die. 

The moral of this subject is comprised in a few 
words : our hopes of health and happiness must always 
deceive us, unless founded on obedience to the laws of 
God, which are those of a rational faith as regards things 
spiritual, and of true science as regards things natural. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE INFLUENCE OF INTOXICATING AGENTS ON 
THE MIND. 

Inordinate excitement is the result of inordinate ar 
terial action of the brain, and of course, if once estab- 
lished, it is apt to go on as a chronic disease, subject to 
alternations of activity and exhaustion, with consequent 
changes in mental manifestation. A certain order, as 
regards time, in the action of the nervous system, is 
essential to its orderly employment by the mind; for 
thoughts and ideas are but as the shifting of scenes in 
the dramas of the soul. Disease of the brain, and every 
disorder in the functions of its several parts, whether 
produced by the state of the blood or the state of the 
morals, equally interferes with orderly nerve-action, and 
therefore so far disturbs memory and imagination ; hence, 
in the hurry of excitement, comparison is impaired in 
proportion to the degree of that excitement. It may 
amount only to what we call nervousness, or it may pro 
ceed to the extent of actual madness. Reason may be 
startled by the rush of ideas, confounded by a crowd ot 
sensations, or altogether lost in the whirl of thoughts 
suggested to the soul by the workings of the brain. 
The effects of impure blood on the mental state illus- 
trate the subject, and these are probably best exhibited 
by the phenomena of intoxication, which will, therefore, 
be especially worthy our attention. "Whatever either 
excites or depresses the nerve-power, appears, in a pro- 
portionate degree, to disturb the equilibrium in which the 



INFLUENCE OF INI OXICATING AGENTS, ETC. 265 

mind and body best maintain their due influence on each 
other. Every deviation from this equipoise, whether 
commencing in the corporeal or mental state, is so far a 
departure from perfect health. If, however, the animal 
preponderates over the rational, as when the body is 
stimulated beyond the proper management of reason, 
then, of course, the rate and character of enjoyment 
must be degraded and depraved, and the man thus dis- 
ordered must for the time become insane. The very 
individual who, under other circumstances, would de- 
light in the beautiful realities of order and truth, in the 
right use of his senses, now feels some undefined pleas- 
ure in the rude fancies that mingle in confusion before 
his mental vision. The drunken man is, in short, quite 
a madman. The gradual development of this insanity 
is curious and instructive. The demon to whom he has 
voluntarily resigned his faculties, slowly, craftily, witch- 
ingly stirs his blood, and then takes full possession of 
his heart, that he may qualify the man for Bedlam and 
for hell. See the sot with his strong drink before him. 
He has taken his seat with a determination to be obliv- 
ious of his responsibility as a social being, and as an agent 
of the Almighty, and, instead of setting his attention upon 
subjects that would raise his soul above his sorrows, he 
empties his glass until sensations excited by the stimu- 
lus disorder his nervous system, and break his thoughts 
and ideas into fragments, like the light of heaven upon 
an agitated sea. At first he is gratified by the splendid 
confusion : 

" He swims in mirth, and fancies he has wings 
Wherewith to scorn the earth." 

But soon a heavy darkness steals over him, and having 
forgotten his home and his relationship, and with not a 
distinct idea left, he looks like a beast that has just satis- 
fied his stomach and has lain down to chew the cud 
His eyes stare vacantly into the air, while his features 



266 INFLUENCE OF INTOXICATING AGENTS 

and limbs all lazily partake of that brutal quiet so stupidly 
expressive of the absence of all possibility of intellectual 
content. But ere long the stimulus, working mischief 
within, stirs his brain and blood in a new manner, and 
he seems to wake up to new perceptions. Objects 
about him become veiled in a haze, and obscure, bub- 
bling, whispering sounds, as from the boiling of the 
witches' caldron of infernal abominations, fall on his ear, 
not to disturb, but to enchant his soul with a horrible 
spell. The mistiness fuming out from that caldron 
grows higher and wider, and the serpent sounds thicken 
and grow louder, until all at once he seems surrounded 
by a living cloud full of strange forms and faces, at first 
pleasing as the fancies of a child, and then suddenly 
twisting into obscene contortions and hideous grimaces, 
while words of blasphemy and filthy merriment mingle 
their babble so closely on his ear that they seem to 
issue out of his own heart, and yet he is not afraid. 
Imagination is doing its worst work ; the deluding devil 
has him at his mercy now, and according to his tem- 
perament he will yield to any temptation that may as- 
sail him. He now betrays the secret habits of his mind, 
and endows his imaginary companions with qualities in 
keeping with his own fancies. He has voluntarily lost 
his reason, and therefore both moral and intellectual 
perception are equally obscured ; and he no more dis- 
tinguishes vice from virtue than truth from falsehood. 
Thus selfish indulgence invariably terminates in com- 
plete stolidity and desolation. Though for a time senti- 
mental, witty, or ingenious, as the natural character may 
determiue, having no more control over his desires than 
he has over his dreams, the thoughts and language of 
the drunkard mix the sublime and ridiculous in chaotic 
confusion; and, having just power enough left in his 
reckless hand to pour another glass, his mad inspiration 
is at once turned into a mumbling idiocy, and then his 



ON THE MIND. 267 

brain becoming thoroughly palsied, he falls under the 
table in a disgusting apoplectic stupor. The habitual 
drunkard is distinguished not only by the haggard dingi- 
ness and lividity of his features, but also by the perpet- 
ual obscurity of his mind. Ask him any question beyond 
the range of his daily drudgery, and he will fumble about 
in vain endeavors to control his brains, and set them in 
the order necessary to think and recollect. His ideas 
are all awry, and his associations all in confusion ; for the 
habit of drunkenness renders the brain always unsteady 
and unmanageable, ready at the slightest mental effort to 
fill the man with most miserable sensations, and to 
haunt him either with direct terrors or with ludicrous 
images, mocking him into torment; hence his nerves 
govern him, and his human principles succumb so com- 
pletely to the temptations of the pothouse, that he can 
rarely be cured without total abstinence, or by being shut 
up like a dangerous lunatic. That this term is not too 
strong we shall see, by observing the nature of that 
horrible malady which so often torments the habitual 
drunkard — delirium tremens. The following is a real 
case, and by no means of the worst character. A work- 
ing jeweler was the subject ; he resided in London, and, 
of course, his business required sedentary and intense 
attention. He found but little opportunity, and, in con- 
sequence of habitual fatigue, he felt but slight inclination, 
to take exercise in the air. If on the Sabbath he fol- 
lowed the stream along the dusty road, that, after a long 
journey, brings one in sight of green fields, his heart 
failed him at some public house within two miles of his 
home, and, in spite of his wife's entreaties, he would walk 
in for a rest, and, with three or four little ones around 
them, there terminate the holy day amid the debauch- 
eries of the abandoned. Instead of refreshing his soul 
and body with rest becoming the Sabbath, the poor man 
hurried into drunkenness, and staggered home conscious 



268 INFLUENCE OF INTOXICATING AGENTS 

of his voluntary degradation. The next day would find 
him less fit for his work, yet he would fix himself man- 
fully to it ; but by-and-by he feels so disordered that he 
resolves to break away, and not to return to the shop 
for a few days. But instead of going at once into the 
country, where he might soothe his soul with verdure 
and peace, he seeks the excitement of companionship, 
and, as he saunters from street to street with a sottish 
comrade, takes a pint here and a dram there. Thus he 
proceeds for two or three days, not quite intoxicated, but 
just in the state in which the animal and the sentimental 
mutually waver in the balance. At length, however, his 
nervous system suddenly fails ; the stages of intoxication 
rapidly hurry on, and he is taken to his bed dead drunk. 
After some hours of almost fatal stupor, he wakes up 
with a fever, burning hands, dull eyes, sallow cheeks, 
parched lips and tongue, confused mind, trembling limbs, 
aching loins, and tormenting heartburn that nothing will 
relieve. But the most overpowering of his sensations is 
a crushing weight of pain on his brain, with an inde- 
scribable sense of dizziness, as if about to fall from a 
vast height. This headache is so intense that light is 
intolerable, and every sound hateful. His temper be- 
comes so irritable that his wife, who fondly watches him 
with the hope that he who once loved her will yet come 
to himself, and repent his unmanliness toward her, dare 
not remain near him any longer, for the sight of her 
now maddens him. Thus he passes his day of horrors, 
to which a night of terrible restlessness succeeds. To- 
ward the next morning, he begins to rave in perfect 
delirium. Every muscle of his frame shakes violently; 
his mind is in mad confusion, yet he cunningly attempts 
to destroy his own life, and when baffled in his rage 
against himself, he turns it upon those who would hin- 
der him, and the strait-waistcoat alone prevents his com- 
mitting murder. With careful medical management he 



ON THE MIND. 269 

recovers, but only for a short time, since some evil power 
holds possession of him, and compels him to return to 
the same condition on the first opportunity. In such 
delirium thousands die ; how necessary then to meet 
the evil in its beginning, which can only be done by 
habitually abstaining from fermented liquors, as being 
perfectly unnecessary, and, indeed, essentially injurious 
to the functions of the body, unless under peculiar cir- 
cumstances. 

The term drunkard, however opprobrious, is still prop- 
erly applied to all those who are accustomed to allay 
that craving for stimulants, which their abuse of the 
stomach invariably excites, by frequent recourse to them, 
so as to keep up a constant but not uncontrollable effect. 
This decent kind of drunkenness, however, leads to its 
own especial horrors ; for when those who are subjected 
to it are deprived of the exhilarating and delusive cordial, 
they are apt to fancy and to feel a thousand evils which 
visit the confirmed hypochondriac from other causes 
with comparative mildness. A man thus unnaturally 
excited, when not under the influence of stimulants, is 
apt to feel as if he might expect death every moment : 
he seems to see the enemy close to him, and he looks 
and expresses himself as if grasped by the cold hand of 
some mysterious presence. I have seen what I describe 
—the decent drunkard's hypochondriasis. He starts, he 
roves about wildly, he breathes laboriously, he struggles 
for life as if he grappled with a murderer, and yet there 
is nothing to annoy him but himself, nothing wrong but 
the nerves he has abused. Sometimes these horrors 
seize him in bed. He springs up as if he were elastic, 
and had been suddenly released from the pressure of 
some great weight ; but it is only from an internal sense 
of suffocation that he tries to fly. He gasps for air as if 
he could never have enough, and yet he breathes deeply. 
The fact is, his blood is poisoned, and can not be duly 



270 INFLUENCE OF INTOXICATING AGENTS 

vitalized ; and, therefore, his brain reels with a feeling 
of vacancy, and his senses are all full of confused sensa- 
tions, because the fine fibrils of their nerves are thrill- 
ing under the impressions of noxious atoms circulating 
among them ; there is a terrible ringing in his ears, and 
a multitude of frightful and indescribable objects crowd 
around his aching eyeballs, which he can not refuse to 
see, for they are more visible in the darkness than in the 
light, and the light he can not bear. He sums for want 
of food, but the sight of it disgusts him ; and the burning 
pain in his stomach renders the mildest thing intolerable 
there. He cries for drink, but water does not cool him 
nor quench his thirst. Nothing but a return to the 
Circean chalice can for a moment charm away the misery 
of life, and that only fixes a curse more deeply on his 
soul. But the agonies of aggravated indigestion, jaun- 
dice, dropsy, and diseased heart are but a small part of 
the catalogue of ills to which those are especially liable 
who addict themselves to dram-drinking and fillips. In 
many cases, a peculiar paralysis comes on ; the legs and 
feet become as smooth as polished ivory, and so tender, 
that the weight of a finger will make a man shriek. All 
power over the muscular system is gradually destroyed, 
and the wretched being lies, it may be for years, at the 
mercy of his attendants, quite incapable even of feeding 
himself. The mind, in these cases, being nearly idiotic, 
it is difficult to discover whether the suffering is really 
so great as it appears, from the cramps of the extremities, 
the convulsive twitchings of the countenance, and the 
moans and exclamations of the patient. It is, however, 
certain that these symptoms increase in violence until to- 
tal darkness closes the horrid scene. Long before death 
arrives, however, the patient talks aloud of his former 
orgies, and re- acts, in thoughts and words, his solitary 
indulgences. Thus the degradation of his soul becomes 
visibly complete. 



ON THE MIND. 271 

The abuse of sensual passion usually induces that 
feeling of exhaustion under which the temptation to take 
stimuli inordinately is strongest. Then the indulgence 
becomes almost irresistible ; and of course, instead of qui 
eting the nervous system, it only substitutes one excite- 
ment for another, and brings the soul and body more 
thoroughly under the thraldom of morbid sensation, be- 
fore the tyranny of which all sense of honor and morality 
at length is lost, and the miserable sufferer, while he 
cowers like a madman under the threats or persuasions 
of those about him, will yet rob his children of their bread 
to obtain a few more doses of the poison of which he is 
dying ; and when disease confines him to his death-bed, he 
will bribe his vulgar nurse with his last shilling, and be- 
seech her with his last breath, to procure for him another 
of the fatal draughts. Can, then, the causes of his most 
pitiable insanity be too fully studied or too fully met ? 
Let every one who reasons see that he, at least, assists 
not to perpetuate the evil by encouraging the habitual use 
of stimulants ; and if there be, in the doctrines and the 
disciples of political wisdom, morality, and religion, any 
power to stem that torrent of popular iniquity, surely 
here, in this country, and about our homes, we find suffi- 
cient scope for its fullest exercise. 

The benefit of habitually abstaining from artificial stim- 
ulants can scarcely be better expressed than it has been 
by some sudden converts to a simple regimen in the 
name of hydropathy. From their rapturous language, 
describing their delights in the feelings of a new kind of 
life and vigor, one might suppose them to have just es- 
caped the misery of a depraved existence, and to have 
found themselves, unexpectedly, in some poetic paradise. 
But there may be intemperance even in the use of water. 
The ecstasies of hydropathic converts, however, is due 
as much to excess of enthusiasm as to excess of drink- 
ing. Active exercise in fresh air. and a free use of cold 



'212 INFLUENCE OF INTOXICATING AGENTS 

water, constitute a plan which every savage, unbewilder- 
ed by quackish mysteries, knows to be wisest, discreet- 
est, best for securing the blessings of bodily health. But 
let moderation be known in all things, and despise not 
the wisdom of Solomon, who tells us that wine has its 
uses, and strong drink is more suitable than cold slops 
and wet sheets for a man with a flagging pulse and a 
sinking heart. A deluge not only renovates, but also 
destroys; and the Maker of man never designed him to 
be amphibious, nor to keep his functions in forcible ac- 
tion, like a water-mill under a constant stream, but to 
enjoy life under a wise use of all that is good, since 
obedience to divine law allows of no extremes ; and tern 
perance implies in mediis tutissimus — an equal danger 
both from abstinence and excess. 

It appears to be pretty clearly ascertained that nar- 
cotic poisons are akin to bitters, the latter only con- 
taining less carbon. Gentian and quassia, much used 
by brewers, taken in large quantities, act as narcotics, 
and the hop so manifestly partakes of the nature of both 
bitters and narcotics, that it maybe classed with either. 
The Romans used to give something of the sort to those 
about to be crucified, for the purpose of blunting sensi- 
bility. This is referred to by St. Matthew: They 
gave him vinegar [bad wine] mingled with gall [joZ?/, 
some bitter], and when he had tasted, he would not drink. 
We commonly observe the effect of beer in the heavy 
countenance and obtuse understanding and feelings of those 
who freely use it. Some narcotics, such as opium, act 
directly on the brain, others on the sympathetic or gan- 
glionic system of nerves, others on the spinal chord, and 
others, such as tobacco, operate on the nervous system 
generally. Hence diversified effects on the emotions 
and intellectual faculties. All those substances which 
soothe the nerves contain more carbon than hydrogen 
in their composition ; they seem to hinder the blood 



ON THE MIND. 273 

from being vitalized properly in the lungs, and Liebig 
believes that they actually combine with the substance 
of the brain and nerves, so as to alter their character. 
Now we can find no difficulty in understanding how the 
habitual and unnecessary use of such agents must prove 
injurious, since they produce an unnatural state of the 
instruments of energy, both as regards body and mind. 
As St. Augustin says, " How pleasant it is to be with- 
out these pleasures!" To forsake them, when accus- 
tomed to their action, is to be subject to morbid re- 
action, to continue them is to disorder every function; 
therefore, not to use them, except as medicines, is the 
only safe plan. We see that from the new nature, so 
to say, induced by habit, it must be extremely difficult 
for a person confirmed in their abuse to renounce them, 
a new and strong kind of appetite being created, which 
to resist is like refusing to yield to hunger or thirst. 

Much might be said concerning the use and abuse of 
tea and coffee; but common sense is beginning again to 
prevail, and therefore we expect that the numerous 
nervous disorders due to excessive indulgence in these 
warm drinks will gradually wear away under a more 
judicious use of them. Chemistry seems clearly to have 
proved that the active principles of tea and coffee are 
precisely similar, and that their elements exist in such 
combination as, when moderately enjoyed, to favor the 
mental action of the brain with less risk than under 
other stimulants ; therefore we can discern the wisdom 
of the Providence which has led to the almost universal 
employment of these substances in civilized society, and 
especially among those whose minds are most active. 
Therefore, let charity and trust in God's goodness com- 
mand our grateful thoughts, and thus put scandal to flight, 
when we socially sip from " the cup that cheers, but not 
inebriates. " 
18 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS ON MORAL 
STATES. 

We habitually distinguish between our moral affec- 
tions and our intellectual powers, because we discover 
a difference between right and wrong, true and false. 
Good and evil relate to affection, truth and falsehood to 
intelligence. Yet these probably are never practically 
dissociated, for as intellect is never exerted without 
some affection being excited, so neither can we enjoy 
pure reason without enjoying true goodness. Mental op- 
erations always influence our moral condition, and either 
confirm us in error and evil, or tend to restore us to 
rectitude and happiness. The will must always be at 
work, and thought be excited, if not directed by desire. 
Hence wisdom and knowledge, so " far from being one, 
have ofttimes no connection." The wise man chooses 
well, he has a right kind of love, and he wishes his 
mind to expatiate on objects under such associations and 
motives as God approves ; in short, he desires his 
thoughts, so to speak, to coincide with his Maker's; and 
therefore the light that is in him, like the sun, diffuses 
a warm benevolence, brightening what it looks on, and 
blending earthly things in beauteous harmony while 
proving its source to be in heaven. But the man of mere 
knowledge is a shriveled miser, starving his proper af- 
fections in vain endeavors to satiate an appetite " that 
grows by what it feeds on." He accumulates ideas as if 



INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 275 

only for the purpose of concealing them. We are made 
to be moved by desire, to shun or to seek ; for will is 
never dormant, either in thinking or feeling; but we 
never think to good purpose without improving our af- 
fections. The connection between intellect and moral- 
ity, however, is not sufficiently considered in our edu- 
cation, which, to be correct, must be conducted with 
especial regard to our physical constitution, as that of 
sensitive as well as reflective beings. The study and the 
statistics of insanity and of crime teach us an awful 
lesson concerning the gigantic evils resulting from igno- 
rant mismanagement of the body in relation to the mind 
and the moral nature. The contents of the preceding 
chapter are a sufficient demonstration that mismanage- 
ment of the body includes immoral conduct ; and indeed 
it can not be otherwise, since morality means the oper- 
ation of right motives in controlling the actions of our 
bodies, and preventing their abuse, by respect for others 
as well as for ourselves ; in short, morality is good man- 
ners ; not the sweetness of assumed courteousness, 
covering a bitter heart — that is Satanic villainy ; but the 
embodied habit of good feeling, which constitutes Chris- 
tian gentleness. Insanity and crime are equally pitiable, 
and are both to be treated, in a great degree, physically, 
notwithstanding that both may originate in moral per- 
versity, because, as the mind acts on the body, so does 
bodily condition and engagement react on the mind. 
Hence to render the situation agreeable, and to engage 
the senses and the limbs in such a manner as to divert 
the thoughts from wrong courses, is the secret of success 
in the management of pure insanity. Thus the maddest 
among the inmates of Bedlam are often guided back to 
happy associations, and even successfully directed to a 
higher standard of intellect and morality : and thus, too, 
the other outcasts of society, hardened criminals, may 
be and are often assisted to attain a noble excellence by 



276 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS 

being separated from evil communications for a proper 
period, and furnished with an appropriate succession of 
objects and employments to think on and to enjoy. It 
is, however, proved that discernible material lesion, 
such as inflammation, softening, hardening, or other 
alteration in the structure of the brain, is not essential 
to insanity any more than it is to the impulses which 
lead to crime ; but it is also proved that this malady is 
experienced almost exclusively by persons whose tem- 
perament has been mismanaged ; for hereditary trans- 
mission, bad education and moral disorder, which are 
the common causes assigned, all imply that the will has 
not been directed aright in the use of the body. Of 
course insanity must be distinguished from the madness 
consequent on accidental injury, and also from delirium, 
frenzy, and idiotism, which are manifestly connected 
either with disordered circulation or defective formation 
of the brain. This, however, is not the place to enter 
at large on this subject; the design here is to show that 
impulsive and insane manifestation of intellect is as- 
sociated with depravity of will, which invariably arises 
from the affections being diverted from their proper ob- 
jects. This is seen very forcibly in that fashionable 
apology for murder — monomania, an intellectual delusion 
which those who are most conversant with the subject 
now suspect to be always consequent on moral derelic- 
tion. This we should expect, if the axiom be true, that 
the emotional powers of our minds, together with our 
affections, are always involved in the use of intellect, 
and we employ our intellects in keeping with the state 
of our passions — so that according to the predominant 
desire will be the direction of our thoughts. This looks 
exceedingly like a truism, and yet it is veiy far from 
being generally acknowledged as a truth. If, however, 
we look a little closely into the action of physical agents 
on the brain, we shall discover that the mental excito- 



ON MORAL STATES. 277 

ment always involves the moral feelings, and that the 
intellect works with the affections, and therefore, accord- 
ing to the habit of the conscience will be the conclusions 
of our reason. Hence we shall understand the import- 
ance of instruction in correcting our wills in relation to 
sensation, and the propriety of rectifying desire by true 
knowledge and suitable employment; for according to 
the habits and principles in which the will is trained, 
must be our consent or resistance to any influence act- 
ing on the organization concerned in our passions. 
Thus our endurance of temptation will indicate the 
state of our faith and love as regards any object, and 
the test of our character will demonstrate that our con- 
demnation is rightly determined by the use we have 
made of instruction and example, in the employment of 
our own bodies. 

As a good example of intellectual exaltation in keep- 
ing with moral character under the influence of a 
medicinal agent, I quote the following case from Dr. 
O'Shaughnessy's account of the effects of Indian hemp : 
41 In a lad of excellent habits, ten drops of the tincture 
induced the most amusing effects. A shout of laughter 
ushered in the symptoms, and a transition state of 
cataleptic rigidity occurred for two or three minutes. 
He enacted the part of a rajah giving orders to his 
courtiers ; he could recognize none of his fellow-students 
or acquaintances ; all to his mind seemed as altered as 
his own condition ; he spoke of many years having 
passed since his student days, described his teachers 
and friends with a piquancy which a dramatist would 
envy : detailed the adventures of an imaginary series of 
years, his travels, his attainments of wealth and power; 
he entered on discussions of religious, scientific, and po- 
litical topics with astonishing eloquence, and disclosed 
an extent of knowledge, reading, and a ready, apposite 
wit, which those who knew him best were altogether un- 



278 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS 

prepared for. For three hours, and upward, he main- 
tained the character he at first assumed, and with a 
degree of ease and dignity perfectly becoming his high 
assumption/' Here we witness ambitious intellect act- 
ing out its character, as in a dream. The remembrance 
of this acting passed away from the consciousness of the 
actor with the excitement which occasioned it, as we 
usually find under such circumstances. 

Van Helmont affords us another case. He declared 
that, after tasting some aconite, his head felt confused, 
and for two hours his intellect seemed to have deserted 
his brain, and taken up its residence in his stomach. On 
one occasion of mental transport, he states that he actu- 
ally saw his soul in his stomach. This, however, is 
pretty strong evidence that he was deranged by the 
narcotic, though it is just as reasonable to suppose that 
a soul could see itself, as that we can, as some physiolo- 
gists tell us, see every thing else, and yet be without any 
souls whatever. He had exhausted his brain by severe 
meditation concerning the soul's existence ; and thus, 
according to a common law of the mind, often illustrated 
in dreaming, he seemed to see what he longed to be as- 
sured of. He says, " Magna mox quies me invasit, et 
incidi in somnium intellectuale satisque memorabile. 
Vidi animam raeam satis exiguam sexus tamen discri- 
mine liberam!" Those who will take the trouble of 
reading all he relates of his visions, will find that he 
gained great moral advantage from them, notwithstand- 
ing the ridiculous aspect of some of his notions. 

The inferences of the soul, whether during vigilance 
or sleep, are always according to its previous convictions, 
that is, its faith. Hence the delirium of the intellectual 
and religious maintains a corresponding character, and a 
mind fixed upon the peculiarities of any creed will find 
abundant evidences in its dreams to confirm the truth of 
what it already believes. The previous state of the mind 



UN MORAL STATES. 279 

determines the nature of its visions; therefore we find 
such a variety of effects on the imagination by the use 
of the same agent. Another observer, being of an en- 
tirely different habit of thinking from Van Helmont, 
took a moderate dose of aconite, and experienced alto- 
gether a different state of mind during its operation. It 
first produced giddiness, which, suggesting ideas of pe- 
culiar motion, soon resolved itself into a sense of orderly 
movements among the objects before the eye; immedi- 
ately these objects appeared endowed with life, and took 
the forms of well known individuals, who seemed to 
dance about in most beautiful figures, flinging a brilliant 
sunshine about them, while they moved in the exactest 
order, with all their movements measured by harmony 
of an exquisite kind, but seemingly composed of all the 
best parts of remembered airs. This vision was not of 
long duration, and was destroyed as if by a sudden loss 
of sight and memory. There was no tendency to sleep, 
but depression and fear came on instead ; and, after sev- 
eral hours, an unusual irritability and obstinacy of temper 
succeeded, which, after a time spent in silence and dark- 
ness, was followed by a marvelous clearness of memory, 
combined with a vivid imagination, giving rise to ideas of 
ecstatic vastness, brilliancy, and promise, and hence with 
a tendency to prophesy all that was most desirable to a 
poet. In short, the aconite produced a kind of insanity, 
perhaps not very unlike that form of excitement which 
so many fancy to be the true inspiration of genius ; but 
all that passed was in perfect keeping with the tempera- 
ment and mental habit of the person experimented on, 
who was a yoang man addicted to the poets, and fond of 
company, music, and dancing. 

The effects of a powerful stimulant medicine on the 
nervous system of a melancholic dyspeptic patient are 
well expressed, while under its influence, in his lan- 
guage to the author : " I used to feel," said he, " as if I 



280 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS 

should never laugh any more, but I now feel as if ] 
should never weep again. I am too hardened by misery 
for tears. I can't melt. I can feel agony.- but can not 
think of it. I am filled with wretchedness, but I can 
not attend to it. I am too selfish to be happy, and my 
mind lives in my limbs." Here we see that the excite- 
ment itself was melancholy ; but still the mind was 
evidently diverted from its habitual train of impressions 
by the operation of the stimulant upon the nerves oi 
voluntary and emotional action. 

This subject is worthy of especial study by those who 
are engaged in the treatment of insanity. Much has 
been done, but much more remains to be done, in adapt- 
ing those remedies that act powerfully on the nervous 
system to the mental condition of the patient. The 
late Dr. D. Uwins was in the habit of insisting that he 
could, by the use of aconite and other narcotics, direct 
the current of thought in his insane patients almost as 
he pleased. This, however, was probably an enthusi- 
ast's unintentional distortion of facts, from looking at 
them through the medium of fancy. Yet certainly I 
must acknowledge I have seen some extraordinary re- 
sults of his peculiar treatment. 

Another case will assist us to arrive at some important 
practical conclusions. Dr. Gray, having taken a large 
dose of Deadly Nightshade, thus describes the effects : — 
" The slight delirium that followed the action of the 
narcotic was of a strange, yet not unpleasant kind. I 
wished to be in constant motion, and it certainly afforded 
me an infinite deal of satisfaction to be able to walk up 
and down. The intellectual operations, at times, were 
very vivid. Thoughts came and went, and ludicrous 
and fantastic spectacles were always uppermost in my 
mind. I was conscious that my language and gesticula- 
tion were extravagant, yet I had neither power nor will 
to do otherwise than I did ; and, notwiilas^ding my 



OH MORAL STATES. 2&\ 

bodily malaise, the mind was in a state of delightful ex- 
hilaration." Many an insane person has been conscious 
of precisely the same state of feeling ; it is therefore 
especially interesting to discover what was the condition 
of the body accompanying this mental extravagance. 
First we observe dizziness and staggering, and then 
cloudiness of vision, from partial palsy of the optic 
nerve. By determined effort of will, however, Dr. 
Gray could combat this for a moment or two at a time — 
a beautiful evidence of mental action on the state of the 
brain. The eye became prominent, dry, and exceeding- 
ly brilliant, with a fixed dilatation of the pupil. There 
was total suppression of all secretion. The feeling in the 
head was that of violent congestion, similar to that of a 
ligature about the neck, preventing the return of venous 
blood from the head. Here we have a poisonous state 
of the blood hindering its proper changes, and thence 
acting on the brain in an unnatural manner. From 
these facts we learn that change in the impulse to action 
may arise from change in the state of blood. The de- 
sire of exertion is the first effect of a stimulant ; hence 
every voluntary movement is a pleasure while under its 
influence. The ideas suggested to the mind, by the pe- 
culiar condition of the brain, of course take their direc- 
tion according to the habit of the individual temperament; 
but it is evident that the power of self-control is destroyed 
the instant a man, either from the rapidity of thought 
or the urgency of impulse, becomes incapable of correct- 
ing the impressions of this excitement by comparison 
with remembered impressions ; he thus loses all sense 
of his proper relation to objects around him, and acts al- 
together under a delusion — that is, he is irresponsibly in- 
sane. It is also manifest, nevertheless, that even the 
false reasoning of such madness will be conducted ac- 
cording to the state of the conscience — that is, the pre- 
dominant moral characteristics will still be evinced, what- 



282 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS 

ever be the immediate impulse or cause of excitement ; 
for 110 man thinks and acts voluntarily, but under habitual 
association of ideas, or as his experience of the past may- 
dictate. While, therefore, we are taught by the records 
of crime and insanity so many lessons of humility and 
pity, because the mind is thus subjected to the disturb- 
ances of the physical economy, we also learn the para- 
mount importance of training the will in the delights of 
moral and religious discipline'; for, although all manner 
of sins arising from the provocations of a depraved body 
and an ignorant mind have provision made for their for- 
giveness, by the very means that produce repentance, 
and ultimately remove their causes, yet we see no 
remedy for a will that refuses to be restored to right 
reason and truly religious motives. But perhaps the 
most instructive fact in the case above stated is the 
mode which Dr. Gray adopted for his cure. An emetic 
and a cold douche to the head speediry put his artificial 
insanity to flight ; and our reasonable inference is, that 
when we find our minds whimsical and inordinate, or in 
any manner impelled at variance with what an enlight- 
ened conscience would dictate, we may suspect some- 
thing wrong in our management of the body, which we 
must endeavor at once to rectify, if we would enjoy the 
highest advantages of our rational existence. Impru- 
dence — that is, want of conscientiousness, inflicts most of 
the evils which we attribute to Providence ; and those 
who, by obedience to divine direction, learn to keep the 
body under control, find nothing in their path that can 
offend them. 

" Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part; 
Do thou but thine." 

The effects of all narcotic poisons, as regards their 
influence on imagination and memory, are somewhat 
similar. The pleasures arising in the confused visions 
thus produced have caused poisons of that kind to be so 



ON MORAL STATES. 283 

commonly employed to excite intoxication among indi- 
viduals who are without steady intellectual pursuits, 
appropriate employments, or just notions of future ex- 
istence, and whose habits, therefore, induce them to 
yield to the fascinations of a present pleasure, rather 
than, by self-control, to qualify themselves for larger 
happiness. Opium is one of the substances most fre- 
quently resorted to for imparting the enjoyment of a 
new mode of consciousness, which it effects by disturb- 
ing the chemistry of life to such a degree that the nerve- 
matter no longer duly subserves its purpose as a medium 
through which the soul exercises volition and perceives 
sensation. Those who desire to study the mental be- 
wilderments produced by the habit of indulging in this 
narcotic, will find abundant matter for thought in the 
eloquence, poetry, and metaphysics, beautifully, but per- 
haps dangerously, mingled with the pathos of a fine soul, 
in the Confessions of an Opium-Eater. This work re- 
veals the maddening fascination with results from a vol- 
untary surrender of the faculties to the influence of this 
drug, and will serve to explain to us how it happens that 
a people like the Chinese, with excitable imaginations, 
but without the restraints of a divine religion, almost 
universally addict themselves to opium, and thus furnish 
Mammon, the god of nominal Christians, with a ready 
market for their iniquitous merchandise. 

Chardin, the illustrious traveler, describes the effects 
of a decoction of poppy-heads (from which opium is pro- 
cured), for the sale of which there are taverns in every 
part of certain Persian towns. " The drinkers entering 
these houses are dejected, sad, and languishing. Soon 
after they have taken two or three cups of this beverage, 
they become peevish and enraged : everything displeases 
them, and they quarrel with each other ; but in the course 
of its operation they make it up again." Then follows 
an illustration of a remark in a preceding page of this 



284 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS 

chapter: " Each one gives himself up tolas predominant 
passion: the lover speaks sweet things of his idol; 
another, half-asleep, laughs slyly at the rest; a third 
tells ridiculous stories ; in a word, a person would be- 
lieve himself really in a madhouse. A kind of dreamy 
lethargy succeeds this disorderly gayety, which the ig- 
norant victims regard as a supernatural and a divine 
ecstasy." 

The Thracians used to intoxicate themselves by cast- 
ing the seeds of certain poisonous plants into a fire made 
for the purpose, around which they sat and inspired the 
narcotic fumes. There can be no doubt that the incan- 
tations of witchcraft and magic were generally attended 
with the practice of burning herbs of a similar kind, 
that by the aid of poisonous fumigations the imagina- 
tions of those who were subjected to them might be the 
more easily deluded ; for when the nervous system is 
under such powerful influences, perception is confused, 
and the mind becomes delirious, and the soul beholds 
what it either hopes or fears. Thus, whatever fancies 
may be suggested to the victim assume the appearance 
of realities, and the wildest dreams are mistaken for 
facts. Hence we see, that the transition from the sub- 
ject of intoxication to that kind of inspiration known to 
belong to the mysteries of heathen priestcraft is most 
natural. The ancients deemed certain temperaments 
essential to the reception of the divine afflatus, and the 
melancholic was considered the most suitable, especially 
■when aggravated by rigid abstinence and the use of nar 
cotics. The success attending such qualifications for 
the attainment of exalted spiritualism, may, therefore 
be easily accounted for. Such artificial modes of assist- 
ing mental abstraction have at all periods been resorted 
to. Thus Pliny informs us, that the soothsayers were 
accustomed to chew roots supposed to be of a certain 
species of henbane The Hindoos employ the Indian 



ON MORAL STATES. 285 

hemp for the same purpose ; and, in St. Domingo, the 
supposed prophets chew a plant called cohaba, that they 
may the better be able to look into the unseen world, 
and perceive the shadows of coming events. Sophocles 
calls the priestesses of Delphos laurel-eaters, because 
they were in the habit of chewing the leaves of that 
shrub before they mounted the tripod. The natives of 
Kamtschatka are said to use the plant spondylium hera- 
clium, with a view to prepare themselves for dedication 
to their gods ; and we are informed that the effect, un- 
der this notion, often produces an irresistible disposition 
to commit suicide. 

The effect of such agents being modified by the pre- 
vious temper and habit of the individual subjected to 
their action, we are taught much concerning the man- 
ner in which insanity, chagrin, irritability, and anger 
operate upon the brain, according to the knowledge and 
habitual feeling of the persons afflicted by them. Our 
thoughts, whether sleeping or waking, in derangement 
or in health, will be determined by the state of our 
affections. The objects familiarly regarded by us will, 
even in delirium and madness, be predominant ; and if 
we yield our body to the unnecessary use of stimulants, 
it will only be to confirm those evil dispositions to which 
we are most liable. 

In connection with this subject, there is another of 
great interest — namely, the alternations of mental action 
in correspondence with states of bodily excitement and 
exhaustion. It is commonly observed, that those per- 
sons whose spirits are easily exhilarated are also easily 
depressed ; and those who, in an excited state of the 
Drain, have their fancies crowded with images of a lu- 
iicrous nature, are, in the cold stages of their existence, 
naunted by horrors of the darkest description. Thus 
Cowper, under the excitement of unwonted sociality, 
wrote of John Gilpin's renowned ride. 



286 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS 

The extremes meet in many instances, and the ex- 
travagant incongruities of romance, and of outrageous 
poetry, so much admired by many riotous minds as 
startling efforts of genius, are due to the dreams of indi- 
gestion and irritable brain, rather than to the might of 
a sober intellect rejoicing in the loveliness of truth. The 
beauties and sublimities of such jumbles of description 
and of sentiment as lead captive the untutored imagina- 
tions of so many youthful readers, may be found in the 
confused discourses of the madhouse to greater perfec- 
tion than even in the circulating library ; and the dreams 
of such readers, when excited by artificial stimuli, and 
by disordered affections, will suffice as specimens of the 
genius they adore ; and which, indeed, their vanity as- 
sures them are proofs that they, too, may claim the in- 
spiration of a harlequin Apollo. Such persons, in their 
unmeasured avidity for pleasure, keep their nerves in a 
state of constant tension ; and thus, so to say, they re- 
spond in unmeaning tones, like the strings of an iEolian 
harp, to any air that may sweep across them. 

We shall gather instruction of much importance re- 
garding the discipline of the mind, if we reflect upon a 
few facts connected with the physiology of mental phe- 
nomena. Sir John Franklin informs us that " his party 
were so reduced by necessity as to allay the cravings of 
hunger by eating a gun-cover and a pair of old shoes." 
The sensation of hunger was suspended; "yet,"' he 
remarks, " we were scarcely able to converse on any 
other subject than the pleasure of eating." This ten- 
dency to dwell upon ideal enjoyments, the very reverse 
of the bodily condition, is curiously exemplified also in 
the fact, that the dreams of those starving men were, at 
this period, always of plentiful repasts. Mr. Moffat, 
having wandered some days in a desert of Africa, without 
food and drink, says, M We continued our slow and silent 
march. The tongue cleaving to the roof of the mouth 



ON MORAL STATES. 287 

from thirst, made conversation extremely difficult. At 
last, we reached the long wished-for water-fall; but it 
was too late to ascend the bill. We laid our heads on 
our saddles. The last sound we heard was the distant 
roar of the lion ; but we were too much exhausted to 
feel any thing like fear. Sleep came to our relief, and it 
seemed made up of scenes the most lovely. I felt as if 
engaged in roving among ambrosial bowers, hearing 
sounds of music, as if from angels' harps. I seemed to 
pass from stream to stream, in which I bathed, and 
slaked my thirst at many a crystal fount flowing from 
golden mountains enriched with living green. These 
pleasures continued till morning, when we awoke speech- 
less with thirst, our eyes inflamed, and our whole frames 
burning like a coal." W. Kendell, in his Narrative of 
an expedition across the great Western Prairie, says, 
" The absence of bread increases the appetite for sweets 
of every description : often, while living upon nothing 
but poor beef, and not half enough of that, did fallacious 
pictures of confectionery stores and cake-shops pass be- 
fore my dreaming fancy." 

It appears, also, that bodily pain, when excessive, 
generally terminates in pleasure of a nature and kind 
just the reverse of that which causes the nervous ex- 
haustion. Thus we are informed that Theodosius, a 
youthful confessor, was put to such exquisite torture 
for singing a psalm, that he hardly escaped with his life; 
but being asked how he could endure such extreme 
torment, he said, " At first I felt some pain, but after- 
ward there stood by me a beautiful young man who 
wiped away my sweat, and so refreshed me with cold 
water, that I was delighted, and grieved only at being 
let down from the engine." These effects of nervous 
exhaustion may be illustrated by reference to those ex- 
periments on the effects of light upon the retina, first 
mentioned by Darwin in bis Zoonomia. It is remarka- 



288 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS 

ble that the contrary color is produced when the sight 
is fatigued ; thus, if we look with a fixed stare at a bright 
green figure until a little wearied, and then look on a 
white surface, we shall see a red figure. If, however, we 
continue to look at the red until the nerve is thoroughly 
wearied, we shall see green. The direct sunshine 
quickly exhausts the optic nerve-power, and, by looking 
on it, we become for a time quite blind. Hence Milton's 
sublime figure : — 

" Dark with excess of light His skirts appear." 
It is probable that every part of the nervous system 
is subject to the same law, or mode of action ; and the 
brain, under mental excitement, as well as physical, is 
apt to take a contrary condition, by which ideas are 
suggested to the mind, the very reverse of those which 
exhausted the attention. Thus the passions, when 
spent in indulgence, are apt to terminate in their oppo- 
sites. Is there not reason to believe that those unnat- 
ural and excessive mortifications which, from mistaken 
religious motives, and, therefore, to be honored, men 
have, with noble fortitude, inflicted on themselves, with 
a view to destroy their sinful propensities, have in re- 
ality tended rather to aggravate them? The mind be- 
ing constantly bent upon subduing some opposing pas- 
sion, like the hungry man who can not eat, will be more 
abundantly supplied with the means of enjoyment and 
temptations in the visions of his weary vigilance. Ac- 
cording to the mental engagement, will be the mental 
trial. Luther saw the Devil when religiously contend- 
ing with the Pope ; and St. Anthony met the Evil 
Spirit in the lovely form of one whose charms he had 
repudiated. Doubtless, those who expressly pray, hour 
after hour, against the prevalence of any particular sin, 
have that sin always present to their spirits, and a mo- 
notonous struggle after chastity will crowd the soul with 
pictures of tempting beauty, beyond the fascinations of 



ON MORAL STATES. 289 

the Louvre. Abelard did not love the less for fighting 
against ideas ; and Eloise saw him not the less because 
she looked upon the blessed Virgin and her child. 
Temperance, active employment, and diversified and 
proper objects are the only suitable remedies for per- 
verse desires. 

Creation is a system of antagonisms, and thus we may 
explain the mystery of our subject, by introducing a 
greater. There are opposing forces both in the spirit- 
ual and the physical world ; and it is only in the diago- 
nal between them that nature retains her standing : thus 
planets revolve in order, and souls on earth proceed in the 
path of light. Temperance in all things is the grand 
requirement ; for, whether using the functions of the 
mind or the body, if indeed they can be separately used 
by us, what we are to avoid is the excess to which our 
uninstructed wills would necessarily lead us. We must 
learn moderation by intimacy with truth, and acquire 
safety by obedience to Him who can not err. Enjoy- 
ment will be lost in selfishness, and a wayward will be- 
gets weakness and confusion. The affectation of a 
righteousness that does not belong to nature increases 
temptation and danger, and captivity to lust is spiritual 
destruction. We can control one desire only by a 
greater : and if we would escape the tyranny of opinion, 
we must exercise faith; if we would not be led in sub- 
servience to men and evil spirits, we must believe God, 
and keep his commandments. To love Him, is to be 
superior to all power but His ; but to be without regard 
to His will, is to be without dominion over our passions, 
and to be in danger of never regaining the proper use 
of our minds. The mainspring, or motive power of 
order is wanting, and the machinery of our bodies and 
of our minds, being without a regulator, hurries on in 
disorder, or suddenly stops. He who formed our intri- 
cate being alone can rectify it — Omnipotence alone can 
19 



290 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENCY. 

restore His immortal creature from otherwise eternal 
ruin. What He wills must be accomplished ; and He 
desires not the destruction of any man, but rather em- 
ploys all agencies to induce the wandering spirit to re- 
turn to rest, in the restoration of integrity and confi- 
dence. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



BODILY ACTION. 



As the human mind is constituted for progress, and to 
find no rest in the past, but to be ever advancing to new 
perceptions, so its highest gratification consists in healthy 
action ; and as the free use of our senses is essential to 
the full development of our intellect, so the intellect is 
never happily exercised but with some anticipated at- 
tainment ever in view. Consciousness itself is mind at 
work ; and the sole delight of the spirit is in the exercise 
of power. Hence every idea associated with diminution 
of bodily activity is repugnant to our feelings. We fly 
from death to life, from inertia to energy, and set heaven 
in motion for our pleasure ; for the soul was created to 
demonstrate the might of God in itself, by bringing mat- 
ter under obedience to will, thus annihilating resistance, 
and resting only in the accomplished works of perfect 
goodness, and the satisfaction of the Omnipotent ; which, 
in fact, must be the sole end of all action and all intel- 
ligence. 

The muscular sense, or that which we exercise in 
using our limbs, is probably most requisite to earthly en- 
joyment; for, being deprived of this, instead of com- 
manding, in the feeling of its own free might, the soul 
becomes consciously a prisoner and a slave. Will, with- 
out power, but aggravates the miseries of helplessness ; 
and when we feel utterly incapable, every desire fails 
to disappoint, only because we can not hope. It is this 
feeling of advantage in the possession of muscular power 



292 BODJLY ACTION. 

which causes us naturally to dread decrepitude, and to 
look upon the cripple with pity. Activity is also con- 
nected in our thoughts with our ideas of animated beauty ; 
and, therefore, deficiency in any of the organs of our 
frame, by which action is effected, suggests unamiable 
associations, which perhaps are somewhat akin to those 
instincts so powerfully evinced among gregarious animals, 
and which urge them to drive the sickly and disfigured 
from the herd. This instinct is a merciful provision to 
prevent the propagation of deformity and feebleness. A 
degree of this instinct is proper to man ; but, like his other 
instincts, it is to be reasonably directed. It will be use- 
ful to human society only when carried by men to the 
wise limit of avoiding the entailment of personal defects 
from parent to child. Where the ardor of natural love 
is not depraved by morbid sentiment, or by those sordid 
calculations which basely weigh affections with gold, the 
natural desire for healthy beauty and beautiful health 
will abundantly protect the personal interests of gener- 
ations to come. The prevalent evil being thus diminish- 
ed, reason will be well disposed to consider how best to 
ameliorate the condition of those who, by the unsearch- 
able wisdom of the Creator, may still be permitted to 
enter life under the disadvantages of bodily curtailment. 
The existence of evil affords scope for greater good. 

The Almighty has manifestly set some good in oppo- 
sition to every evil, which good is destined so to triumph 
as that sin and suffering shall ultimately but exalt man's 
apprehension of Jehovah's unsearchable attributes. The 
possession of personal and physical advantage, however, 
does not always secure our immediate benefit, because 
the means of enjoyment will beguile us into folly as often 
as we seek pleasure at the sacrifice of principle ; but 
while a perfectly formed body, rightly employed, will 
perhaps enable us to gain whatever of excellence this 
world can afford us, yet those who are deprived of such 



BODILY ACTION. 2\)S 

facilities will still be enabled to attain a mental and moral 
superiority over all those who use the body merely a* a 
means of luxurious indulgence, rather than of conquest 
over selfish propensities. 

The influence of deformity of the body on the mind 
would afford an interesting and inspiring subject to an 
eloquent and ingenious thinker. Some infirmity of this 
nature has afflicted not a few of the notable characters 
of history. Nor is this surprising, since the circum- 
stances in which individuals thus curtailed are placed act 
as stimulants to the mental faculties. Thus some, inca- 
pable, it may be, of locomotion, shrink away from the gaze 
of their more favored fellow-beings, and having no re- 
source but in thought, acquire such familiarity with the 
motives and operations of their own, and hence also of 
other minds, as to exhibit philosophy in its most amiable 
forms. They detect the cause of moral failure, and often 
present the meek and sublime example of moral and re- 
ligious exellence under the most abject of bodily disad- 
vantages. Thus, in a family we frequently find the de- 
formed or the disfigured making more than amends for 
deficiency in personal appearance by superior intelli- 
gence and mental loveliness. Where we witness this, 
we ought to love and admire, for there we behold heroic 
beauty. The love of approbation frequently exhibits 
itself in a painful manner in those who labor under 
bodily defects or distortions; and it is no unusual thing to 
observe the children, and even the men, whom nature 
has rendered comparatively unfit for any particular ac- 
tivity, endeavoring to show especial skill in that very 
respect in which they are least calculated to shine. 
This seems to arise from a desire to persuade them- 
selves, as well as others, that they neither feel their de- 
ficiency so much, nor are really so deficient as may ap- 
pear ; and indeed it is the result of a benevolent law of 
our existence, by which the direction of the mind thus 



294 BODILY ACTION. 

makes some amends for its want of full accommodation ; 
and the disposition to do the best with defective means 
is certainly the very best method of improving the power 
which may be possessed. Hence it so frequently hap- 
pens that the most unlikely persons are found the most 
efficient. The effects of Byron's club-foot on his char- 
acter and conduct pointedly illustrate these remarks ; 
for, from a boy, he was proud of his agility as a jumper, 
and took every opportunity of showing it, while by these 
constant endeavors the evil was greatly diminished. 
The morbid regard for appearance which stimulated him 
to assume extravagant, because unnecessary, modes of 
setting off his manliness may, perhaps, be traced to his 
foot ; and it is even probable that the personal nature of 
his poetry, and the earnest portraiture of so many forms 
of beauty and heroism in his writings, may have pro- 
ceeded from the constant and excessive consciousness of 
himself, which his personal defect seems to have pro- 
duced. The loftiest education of the will is necessary 
to preserve an individual, subject to congenital or ac- 
cidental defect, from moroseness of temper. His self- 
hood is interfered with in the most trying manner; 
hence fretfulness and discontent are natural conse- 
quences. If one so situated meet not the consideration 
to which his position justly entitles him, conscious of the 
neglect of those whom he desires to love, he will, per- 
haps, lose his allegiance to society by seclusion in his 
own wretchedness, or, if he can, he will immure himself, 
like the Black Dwarf described by Sir W. Scott : a sen- 
sitive and suspected man, surrounding himself with 
granite barrenness and solitude, as preferable to the cold 
hardness of human beings, though he still hoards in his 
heart the tenderest sympathies, and is ready, when 
circumstances shall demand it, to evince all the distorted 
energy of a mind matured by disappointment and soli- 
tary thoughtfulness into enormous vigor. 



. BODILY ACTION. 295 

Many are the examples which history presents of the 
victims of deformity struggling against personal insignifi- 
cance, and rising above the prejudices of their times till 
the public have felt that the mind is the man. The soul 
is not cribbed in the lowly chamber because the body 
allows it not a place in courts or camps. iEsop, though 
a deformed slave, gained a proverbial mastery over other 
minds, and taught the very brutes to speak that reprov- 
ing wisdom, which men prefer in disguise, since they 
would rather learn from fables than from facts. A 
partial arrest of bodily development seems rather to 
favor that of the mind, provided the brain be not defect- 
ive. This may be accounted for by supposing the ex- 
istence of a fund of nervous energy not demanded by the 
body, and to be used by the mind. Thinking is generally 
conducted at some expense to the nutrient powers and 
nervous energy, and, therefore, perfect quiescence of 
body is necessaiy to profound thought. Of course, where 
nature enforces physical rest, and still confers abundance 
of brain and intellect, there thinking may be continued 
with the least fatigue. 

Our moral lesson, from this part of our subject, is 
the propriety of making the most of our opportunities 
for mental advance and improvement, since we see that 
those who have been stimulated by a feeling of necessity 
to keep watch over their own thoughts have gained ad- 
vantage even from impediments. We are accountable 
in proportion to our facilities, and are inexcusable if we 
suffer the body to conquer us by those very endowments 
which are intended to secure the victory to our souls. 
Inaction and exhaustion are equally to be dreaded, since 
both engender irritability, and alike disqualify the mind 
for proper attention to surrounding objects, by causing 
it to dwell upon the discomforts of self. But there are 
many other thoughts arising from this subject, a few of 
which may profitably detain our attention. Action ex 



296 BODILY ACTION. 

presses character. Every passion possesses the mus- 
cular system with a power peculiar to itself; hence it is 
expressed in the features and in the attitude. By some 
mysterious law of sympathy, association, or suggestion, 
it happens, that if the soul merely imitates in action the 
appearance presented by any passion, the nerves which 
are called into operation for that purpose become so ex- 
cited that they, in return, are apt to lix the mind for a 
time in that direction, and the will is thus often mas- 
tered by the state of its own instruments, though that 
state be produced by voluntary exercise ; and he who 
began by enjoying the mimicry of passion, at length feels 
the reality of its power. Hence it happens that pugi- 
lists and gladiators, in the fullness of their bodily energy, 
find it extremely difficult to keep their tempers during 
their preparatory sham-fights ; and, therefore, systematic 
trainers recommend their lusty pupils to go regularly to 
church, not for the sake of religion, but to quiet their 
nerves by a sort of physical sympathy with peaceful 
and devout persons; for it is found, that to be in the 
midst of a worshiping assembly has a tranquiiizing in- 
fluence, even on the tempers of those who know noth- 
ing about godly motives. This fact shows the brutalizing 
effect of calling the organs of defense and destructive- 
ness into such violent action. Two dogs at play exem- 
plify the subject: they gambol around each other in 
quite a merriment of defiance ; they snarl, they bark, 
they bite, with an amiable restraint on their canine teeth 
and propensities, until, in the excitement of his nerves, 
the more sanguine dog nips his friend's ear a little too 
sharply, and instantly their mutual forbearance is at an 
end, and their play-fight ends by their fighting in earnest. 
So the dogs that delight to bark and bite teach us a les- 
son that Dr. Watts has forgotten to mention. It is better 
not to allow our fighting qualities to be called into play, 
lest, like controversialists and prize-fighters, we should 



BODILY ACTION. 297 

endanger our safety by losing our tempers. The only 
justifiable cause of war is a love of peace. Christianity 
converts our organs of destructiveness into instruments 
of benevolence, our swords into ploughshares, our spears 
into pruning-hooks. 

The influence of the body on the mind is well shown 
by the very same evidence that proves the superior in- 
fluence of the mind on the body. The soul calls the 
nerves into action, the medium of mental manifestation 
is stimulated by the will to such a degree that at last 
the will is overpowered by its own effects. Thus we see 
that actors of fine conformation are sometimes overcome 
by the feelings which they imitate. It is said that Cam- 
panelly, the physiognomist, was as remarkable for his 
power of imitating the expression of another's features 
as in reading their characters : in fact, it appears that 
his sagacity in detecting the peculiar dispositions of others 
arose from the facility with which he mimicked their 
gestures and the play of their features. By thus com- 
posing his body as much as possible to their likeness, he 
found certain states of mind excited by which he was 
enabled to detect the thoughts and dispositions of those 
whom he imitated. On this fact Burke remarks, that he 
had himself observed his mind involuntarily turned to 
those passions whose appearance he had endeavored to 
represent in his own person. It is, indeed, hard to sepa- 
rate the passion from its correspondent gestures ; for 
the consent of the will to the appropriate action is the 
embodiment of the passion itself, and a realization in 
feeling of that which otherwise exists but in idea. 

To imitate evil is to be evil ; and so it is, also, with 
approval or pleasure to witness it ; for the sight of pas- 
sions personally represented excites a corresponding 
sympathy in beholders, and therefore philosophy agrees 
with religion in regarding it as unreasonable to encourage 
mere stage-players. Dramatic extravagance, however, 



298 BODILY ACTION. 

is sure to be popular, until the public mind becomes ac- 
customed to contemplate the more instructive and im- 
pressive scenes of actual life and the wonders of creation. 
True history is the best drama, and the fulfillment of duty 
is the most impressive. 

All motion — that is, visible action — excites our sym- 
pathy, because it always has some relation to our own 
muscular system, since we are called to move accord- 
ing to the movements of things about us. It is con- 
nected with our instinct of self-preservation ; hence we 
are endowed with the faculty of associating in our minds 
such objects as move in similar manners, and they recur 
to our remembrance with a certain sense of ourselves 
being agreeable, or the reverse, according to the state of 
our passions at the time that we either witness or re- 
member them. Our intuitive perception of relative po- 
sition is connected with that sense of our own bodies 
which we all possess, for in relation to ourselves we 
refer the position of all other things. Some reflection 
on this subject is demanded, if we would understand how 
to regulate the association of our ideas. Our faculties 
are constituted to correspond with objects in relation to 
rime, motion, and position. Thus we recall ideas in an 
associated manner, according as the objects which first 
produced the ideas stood with regard to each other in 
these particulars. For instance, we remember the name 
of a thing the better if we see the thing and hear it 
named at the same moment; and, therefore, if the quali- 
ties of any substance be demonstrated before us in order, 
we shall most likely associate those qualities with the 
substance whenever we see it, because ideas impressed 
together usually recur together. Language is founded 
on this association of ideas, and that person will gen- 
erally experience the greatest facility in acquiring lan- 
guage, and also in employing it, who most habitually 
connects words with objects and with actions or states 



BODILY ACTION, 299 

actually known or experienced by himself. We are sure 
to remember most readily what most engages our feel- 
ings, and that not merely as a bare fact, or thing done 
within our own knowledge, or vividly imagined by us, as 
experienced by others, but the fact will also recur to 
our minds with all its associated circumstances. 

If, then, we would train the intellect to good purpose, 
we must choose wise associations ; and, above all things, 
remember that wisdom, as Solomon says, is the prin- 
cipal thing ; by which, I understand him to signify, that 
the education of the affections is the beginning, middle, 
and end of right discipline, since ideas recur with con- 
trolling force in our reasoning just in proportion to the 
power and the peculiarity of the passion with which the 
ideas were first impressed on our minds. Those thoughts 
which are connected with personal affection will outlive 
all other thoughts, or, at least, will be preeminent in 
their influence on our conduct, and that because it is a 
law of our bodily existence that no personal feeling can 
be experienced, either directly or sympathetically, by 
us, without producing a tendency to action. Affection 
— personal feeling — governs the will itself, and therefore 
regulates all the associations both of the body and the 
mind. Even God himself exerts no influence upon our 
morals, but as He is revealed to us in personal relation- 
ship. Our ideas of an undefined might are merely neb- 
ulous creations, and can never render us rationally de- 
vout; and we might as well adore a thunder-cloud as a 
God without a personal correspondence with ourselves. 
It is this indefiniteness of notion, connected with the 
Word of God, which causes many to find what they 
call devotion such a heavy servitude. They, for a time 
resign their understandings to a mysterious apprehen- 
sion which leads neither to love nor knowledge ; and, 
therefore, it is no wonder that such persons resort to their 
devotions as little as possible, and that just for decency's 



300 BODILY ACTION. 

sake. True worship, however, is not hard work, but, 
indeed, an unutterable delight ; because in it the en- 
lightened spirit of man recognizes a true object of affec- 
tion as well as of adoration — a personal Deity, who, while 
enforcing the ordinances of the boundless universe by 
his presence, still makes known his will in life, power, 
and love, as the immediate friend and patron of each be- 
lieving man. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR ON THE 
NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

The depressing passions lead to bodily inaction ; the 
exciting passions induce physical exertion. Whenever 
hope is strong, the will is busy with the muscles, and 
calls the heart and lungs into free play: hence there 
is a disposition to set about the accomplishment of de- 
sire ; and, therefore, as long as the body is vigorous, a 
few impediments only strengthen determination and 
heighten enjoyment, since the act of overcoming diffi- 
culties is among the chief pleasures of conscious power. 
Bodily inactivity tends to produce gloominess of mind 
and moroseness of temper ; while exertion in the open 
air promotes the better feelings of the heart, and bright- 
ens the intellect with an inward sunshine. The man- 
ner in which these conditions respectively effect the 
mental change is explained by reference to facts stated 
in connection with those of the circulation of the blood. 
This essential fluid is vigorously propelled along its nu- 
merous channels by the proper exercise of a healthy 
person in pure air ; every organ is thus excited to the 
full performance of its functions, and the living stream 
being more abundantly vitalized by the absorption of vital 
air, the brain is more copiously furnished with the stim- 
ulus which its high offices demand. Light, warmth, 
life, are thus transmitted to the nerves ; the soul is put 
into suitable relation to the elements of this glorious 
world ; all the senses are rendered fitter for their proper 
service ; the soul becomes alert, and the measure of 



302 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR. 

earthly — that is to say, animal — happiness is full. The 
state of the blood, however, has probably more to do 
with this kind of enjoyment than either locality or asso- 
ciation. When the Honorable C. A. Murray had been 
living for some time entirely on buffalo-beef, among the 
Pawnee Indians, his body got into the true savage train- 
ing ; and in the excitement and liberty of the wilds, he 
enjoyed the perfection of his animal nature. The kind 
of intoxication arising from over-stimulating blood is well 
expressed by him. "I have never known," he says, 
" such excitement in any exercise as I have experienced 
from a solitary walk among the mountains :" thoughts 
crowd upon thoughts, which I can neither control nor 
breathe in words ; I almost feel that I am a poet, but" 
(as Byron beautifully expresses it) " I ' compass the god 
within me ;' all the beloved dwellers in the secret cells 
of my memory walk by my side ; I people the height 
of the hill and the shades of the forest, not only with 
those whom I have known, but with all my friends from 
fairy-land ; and in these illusions of my waking dream I 
forget time, fatigue, and distance, and — sometimes lose 
my way." 

This highly animalized state of blood is not, however, 
altogether poetic ; but the ferocity, as well as the hilarity 
of a beast of prey, may well be imagined as sometimes 
associated with it. A man living solely on beef, as the 
Indians generally do, and full of freedom and fresh air, 
has blood very nearly approaching in chemical character 
to that of a lion, the fibrin and red globules being more 
abundant, in proportion to the liquor sanguinis, and the 
temper of his mind approximates to the indomitable 
savage. If he be not well informed and habitually dis- 
posed to reflection, of course the chase affords him the 
highest delight, the state of his circulation renders him 
sudden and quick in quarrel, and while his will remains 
wildly selfish, he can not but be unrelenting in his ani- 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 303 

mosity, though his heart may cling to those whom he 
instinctively loves, like a wolf to her whelps. Without 
exercise of a violent kind, this state of blood is apt to be- 
come intolerable, because it rouses the animal instincts 
to such an excessive degree, that reason becomes per- 
plexed and confused by innumerable sensations, which 
she finds no means of subduing by demand on thought, 
since the nerves of volition and emotion are unduly ex- 
cited to reflex action, and thus the balance of brain- 
power, by which the mind maintains dominion over the 
body, being disturbed, the animal is apt to prevail ever 
the rational, and the man to behave like a brute. But 
exercise, like abstinence, will moderate the demon within 
him ; and thus the sportsman, who shoulders his gun in 
the morning, as fierce as if about to have a fit of the 
gout, will return in the evening, after a day's tramp 
through slush and mire after snipes, with a meek and 
smiling face, quite fit to meet his pleasant wife and chil- 
dren. Thus, then, it appears that a person under the 
influence of highly stimulating blood, finds all the organs 
of especial passion ready for action ; but happily, the 
tendency to action is, under these circumstances, not usu- 
ally limited to a part, but the whole muscular system is 
roused, and both cerebrum and cerebellum, both the ex- 
citing and the restraining powers, are called into exer- 
cise, for the purpose of regulating the muscles. What- 
ever contributes to particular vigor in a healthy person 
commonly increases general power ; but it happens that 
if one set of organs, as, for instance, the muscles, be 
weakened either by disease or by disuse, such stimu- 
lants as would in health cause a disposition to exercise, 
will now, especially in those accustomed to idleness, pro- 
duce a great excess of passionate impulse, but without a 
corresponding power of diverting its intensity by bodily 
exertion ; and thus, disorder of the passions, in those 
whose minds are ill trained, is likely to become habitual, 



304 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

and therefore, at length, quite uncontrollable ; because 
the will, not being governed by holy motives, submits 
without a struggle to its greatest degradation. 

In connection with the facts which prove the influence 
of bodily employment in diverting the feelings, it will be 
interesting to reflect a little on that debility of brain 
which accompanies melancholy. This is most frequently 
met with in those who have been accustomed to seclu- 
sion and sedentary employment. The blood is usually 
too fluid in this disease, which is very apt to occur in 
persons of fibrous constitution, without fat and with dark 
hair and eyes, whenever such individuals are brought by 
any means into a state of debility. They are naturally 
and habitually strong-willed, obstinate, prejudiced, de- 
termined, and are, therefore, liable to be excessively dis- 
tressed whenever the attainment of their desires is ren- 
dered impossible. The malady is often preceded by 
intense sensibility without proper opportunity of relief 
by social activities, affectionate appliances, and such, 
varieties in the uses of the body as diminish irritability 
of the brain. This state may be induced by a powerful 
moral impression exhausting the sensorium by extreme 
vigilance and troublous dreams. There is a case of this 
kind related by Esquirol — a young lady who had been 
the playmate of the unfortunate Duke d'Enghien, and 
who, after his execution, became incurably melancholy, 
and continued to sit gazing fixedly opposite a window, as 
if watching for him whom she loved. The brain, in 
such cases, becomes incapable of any steady impression 
but that which wearied it into the fixedness of disease. 
Some one idea seems to be indelibly graven, so to speak, 
on the structure of the brain, and the mind continues to 
act only in this direction, because the nerve-fibrils refuse 
to take any other. The soul can not place itself in happy 
relation to the external world : it perceives only one state 
of things in connection with itself, and therefore patients 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 305 

thus afflicted complain that they are without affections, 
and altogether worthless. Their excessive conscien- 
tiousness, however, proves their affections to be intense. 
Still they repel attention from themselves because they 
feel unfit either for love or for friendship. They pass 
dark judgments on themselves, and expect the Almighty 
to deal unmercifully with them. They often entertain 
a notion that they are to be peculiar examples of divine 
indignation, and that, since hell is too good for them, 
some punishment, extra Unities, is to be invented to suit 
their case. Here I will dare to state that the worst 
cases I have ever seen were of persons who had been 
trained from childhood with perverted views of the evan- 
gelical scheme, and with what appears to me to be the 
horrible belief that God has made and predestinated the 
majority of mankind for eternal destruction, a statement 
surely exactly the reverse of the truth ; for does not the 
Bible affirm that God wills not the death of a sinner, but 
that all should repent and be saved ? This melancholy 
affection is certainly connected with loss of energy in 
some part of the brain, induced by wrong habits both of 
thinking and acting, and it seems much to depend on the 
circulation being too feeble to restore tone to the nerve, 
or to supply energy to the muscles. Probably there 
may be sometimes a defect also in the materials of the 
blood. Thus the feeling of inability begets an idea of 
unwillingness, and therefore the highly sensitive patient 
constantly condemns himself because he feels no lively 
sensations ; and, as if his state were entirely his own fault, 
he fancies the Almighty has left him to judicial hardness 
of heart, or set him forth before men and angels as an ex- 
ample of justice without mercy. In this tremendous 
gloom of soul the rational faculties all become obscured, 
and therefore, as the natural result of despair, working 
only with blind instincts and terrors, many destroy them- 
selves. Well may we say, when refleeting on this de- 
20 



306 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

sertion and desolation of the human spirit, clouds and 
darkness are around the throne of the Eternal. The 
Christian, however, looks closer to that throne, and there 
beholds the rainbow in its harmony of light, and expects 
Him who sits thereon once more to come forth and vin- 
dicate the ways of God to man by showing how it is the 
business of Omnipotence to reconcile all contradictions, 
and to call light out of darkness, life out of death, good 
out of evil, and to accomplish whatever our darkened 
reason would now call impossible. 

Regular exercise, variety of employment, new inter- 
ests, and judicious medical treatment, are required for 
the cure of melancholy. The disease tends to convert 
a living and once energetic man into a still, stone-like 
image of despair ; but w T ords of life must be constantly 
whispered in his ear, for an appeal to the beclouded soul 
often calls it back into visible action and enjoyment. 
Kind words being dropped incessantly, at length vivify 
the petrified features ; the statue, so to say, begins to 
smile, and speaks and laughs, and then bounds across the " 
green-sward with his children at play, metamorphosed 
into a happy man, wondering at his double nature, al- 
though happily the dreams that haunted his darkened 
spirit vanish from his thoughts with his return to light. 
If we can but get the body into vigorous action, the spell 
is often broken : 

" Throw but a stone, the giant dies !" 
There, however, is the difficulty — the arm refuses to 
raise the sling. Dr. Mead relates a case which shows 
us how we may take advantage of foibles and mental 
habits to rouse the sluggish spirit into activity. A hy- 
pochondriacal student of Oxford, after a life of bodily 
indolence, imagined himself on the point of death, and 
ordered the passing bell to be tolled, that he might hear 
it before he died. He had been fond of bell-ringing, but 
finding it now most execrable, he leaped out of bed, and 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 307 

hastened to the belfry to show how the bell ought to be 
rung ; he then returned to his room, that he might die 
decently. But the exercise had cured him ; aod having 
been once diverted, he could now continue to attend to 
other subjects than his own morbid impressions. From 
that time his reason and health returned together. 

A degree of bodily monotony, or quiescence, is neces- 
sary to concentrated attention. To think intensely we 
must be still ; for memory will not yield her treasures to 
our demand, except when our wills are fully fixed upon 
obtaining them. Reflection is motionless. A slight ex- 
ercise of the body is, however, favorable to imagination. 
A saunter in the sunshine among the hills, with here and 
there the music of living waters, the song of birds, the 
garniture of woods, the far off sea, like a brighter part 
of heaven, and the clouds resting on the horizon like 
mountains, presenting a pathway to the skies — this is 
the poet's paradise. But his inspiration is not in out- 
ward nature only, but also in his blood. A balmy and 
dry air, with just that degree of exercise which excites 
a glow, will more enliven his fancy and heighten the color 
and distinctness of his conceptions than any sights and 
sounds, without that warm awakening of his brain which 
a gentle walk, under such circumstances, will produce. 
It was thus that Byron felt the grandeur, the beauty, the 
pathos, the daring, and the darkness which, in the still- 
ness of the evening and of moonlight, he mingled with 
the memories of Childe Harold. Thus, also, the sub- 
limer bard who relates the story of angelic and human 
revolt, when his sight was quenched, recalled to tho 
vision of his soul those ideas which crowded on his 
brain during the days of his activity. 

But it is almost impossible to carry on a train of close 
thinking while the body is powerfully employed : the 
hurry of the circulation, the demand made on the brain 
for nervous energy to act on the muscles, and the inten- 



308 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

sity of attention to the body itself, almost preclude the 
power of attending to ideas with any precision. It is 
from this cause that we find certain sedentary occupa- 
tions so favorable to the development of the mind. Thus 
the shoemaker's attitude and employment seem peculiarly 
adapted to encourage thinking, if we may judge from the 
multitude of self-taught men whose minds have been set 
in tune while hammering at the lapstone. Village tailors, 
too, are thinking men ; but the journeymen of towns are 
apt to lose their intellectuality in political and social 
squabbles, in consequence of being shut up, to corrupt 
each other, in small rooms without proper ventilation. 
Enlargement of mind under such circumstances is nearly 
miraculous. 

We may here turn a little aside briefly to consider a 
kindred subject, and one involved in exercise — namely, 
the influence of air on the operations of the mind. But 
first, it will not be out of place to say a word or two on 
certain relations between the brain and the lungs, which, 
although not adverted to in any popular work, are, I 
think, of great interest and importance. The value of 
the nerve-matter in the economy is beautifully proved 
by the remarkable provisions made to preserve it from 
injury during the motions of the body. The structure 
of the brain is so delicate that our slightest movements 
would destroy its integrity, but for the manner in which 
it is protected by dovetailed bones, by its three mem- 
branes, by partitions, by muscles, and by being placed 
on the summit of the elastic vertebral column, so that 
the shock of every step might be well diffused . But the 
fluid, which on all sides and in every crevice surrounds 
both the brain and the spinal chord, is perhaps most es- 
sential to their safety ; and it is to this that I would now 
confine my observations. A close investigation of the re- 
lations of this fluid induces me to infer that it is especially 
acted on during exercise. Experiments have proved that 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 309 

the motions of the heart and the act of breathing would 
be attended with inconvenience to the brain were not 
this fluid provided, since both the contractions of the 
heart and the movements of the lungs are seen to com- 
municate impulse to the brain ; for it is raised with the 
systole and depressed with the diastole, and it rises on 
breathing out, and it sinks on drawing breath in. Now 
we find that the effects of these motions, which, of course, 
are most violent during strong exercise, are modified by 
the quantity of this fluid which surrounds the brain and 
spinal marrow. When it is less, the influence of breath- 
ing or the motion of the brain is less. Dr. Ecker explains 
this fact to us, by showing that, during the inspiration, 
the blood driven into the arteries in passing from the 
heart, being hindered from returning, accumulates, or is 
delayed in the veins of the brain, and thus displaces a 
proportionate quantity of the surrounding watery fluid 
toward the base of the brain, which fluid then enters the 
spinal canal. When the left heart contracts, it sends a 
larger quantity of blood into the carotid and vertebral 
arteries, and thus causes an elevation of the brain with 
every pulse. The motions dependent on the action of 
the heart are much weaker on the spinal chord than on 
the brain, while those connected with breathing are more 
constant and considerable on the former, from the more 
powerful distension of the veins of the spinal canal, while 
in the act of expiration, or of passing air back from the 
lungs. We see, then, how this fluid serves the great 
purpose of regulating the vascular fullness of the brain ; 
and thus we discover more of the important influence 
which the circulation of the blood and the mechanism 
of respiration exert over the nervous system, and how 
intimate is the relation in which they stand with regard 
to each other and the action of the whole body. Our 
inference concerning the value of exercise in modifying 
the state of the motions and the intellect may be antici- 



310 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

pated from a view of the above facts, since it is manifest 
that, in order to keep up the proper alternations between 
the brain and the spinal chord, and between the heart 
and the lungs, it is not enough to breathe pure air, 
but it is also necessary that it should be deeply breathed. 
It is well known that all fluids in motion generate elec- 
tricity ; and, therefore, we can not doubt that the motions 
of the fluid of which we have written must also generate 
it, and, of course, may thus be of further importance in 
maintaining nerve-action. The connection of this fluid 
with sleep and activity, and also with emotion and 
thought, would be an interesting investigation ; but as 
we must proceed with our remarks, with a view of being 
practical rather than speculative, we will again look a 
ittle into the effects of air on the brain, and thence on 
the mind. The air of the atmosphere is the only one 
fit to be breathed by us, and, therefore, the purer we 
can get it the better. Oxygen, or, as it used to be well 
called, vital air, is the most active agent in promoting the- 
necessary changes of the blood by respiration. Some- 
what more than a fifth part of the atmosphere is oxygen. 
If the vital alterations of the body be chiefly effected by 
the action of this substance, received through the lungs, 
we should of course conclude that every thing which 
lessens its quantity in the air we breathe, or in any 
manner impedes its action on the blood, must so far 
disturb life, sensation, and thought, by disqualifying the 
brain, and thence all the body, for the use of the mind. 
In short, a man will be speedily poisoned by his own 
blood if it be not duly oxygenated. Narcotic substances 
seem to operate on the body by interfering with the af- 
finity existing between the blood and the air, allowing 
the accumulation of carbon or other noxious agents in 
the circulating fluid, and thus arresting the action of the 
nervous system. On this principle, every kind of in- 
toxication disturbs the voluntary operations of the mind 



w\ THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 311 

by poisoning the brain, and thence impeding the influ- 
ence of the will upon the circulation by preventing its 
control over the nerves of sense and emotion. Carbon 
and hydrogen, which abound in fermented liquors, are 
removed from the blood in the act of breathing; and 
these appear to be the chief substances which, in various 
combinations, tend to render the air, as well as the blood, 
deleterious. Hence we find that where a number of 
persons are crowded together in too limited a space, or 
without proper ventilation, either rapid suffocation takes 
place, as in the Black-hole of Calcutta, or else, the poi- 
son acting more slowly, nervous languor, mental confu- 
sion, and putrid fevers are produced, as in the cellars 
occupied by the poor in Liverpool and elsewhere. Jail- 
fever was a horrible malady, originating from a number 
of prisoners being shut up in close cells to gasp for life, 
instead of being actively employed for moral amendment. 
The horrors of the Black-hole of Calcutta are often 
referred to, but yet few persons know their particulars. 
One hundred and forty-six gallant soldiers, in full health, 
were thrust into a room only eighteen feet square, hav- 
ing only two small windows at one end. A burning 
fever soon raged among them ; they panted for breath, 
they were all delirious, they raved in vain for water, 
water, water ! But it was air they needed. Their 
bodies generated a pungent, ammoniacal gas (hydrogen 
and nitrogen), which suffocated them, and in the morn- 
ing only twenty-three were alive. In the midst of this 
awful scene, one beautiful fact appears : when about 
one third of the number were dead, and the remainder 
were madly pressing upon each other toward the win- 
dows, the commanding officer, who w T as greatly beloved 
by the men, entreated to be allowed to retire from the 
window to die ; they all instantly gave place to him, and 
when afterward he made another effort to reach the 
window, crying, Water, for God's sake ! they all, with 



// 

1 



312 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

one voice, cried, Give him drink ! Nor would one of 
them taste a drop till he had enough. How wonder- 
ful is the command of an amiable mind ! Another in- 
structive fact in connection with the Black-hole is, that 
all those who survived the imprisonment had putrid fever 
immediately afterward — a circumstance which throws 
great light on the nature of that disease. These facts 
also explain the madness and death of such a large pro- 
portion of the slaves stolen from Africa, and packed into 
vessels without room enough even to draw a full breath. 
A third, or even half the awful cargo used not unfie- 
quently to perish in a state of delirium ; and it is to be 
feared that, in spite of busy philanthropy, the horrors of 
the middle passage are scarcely diminished. O thou 
who hast revealed thyself as a merciful God, how shall 
the merchants in human blood be burnt to the soul with 
self-abhorrence, when, in the coming judgment, He who 
said, Love thy neighbor as thyself, shall show them His 
wounds ! 

The application of the foregoing facts to our subject is 
sufficiently manifest. If we would preserve our nerves 
in a state to favor mental exercise, we must insure our 
access to pure air. It is not enough to be guided by our 
senses in this matter; for, unless we are supplied with 
fresh air at the rate of at least twenty cubic inches for 
every breath while tranquil, and twenty-five while in 
action, we shall be in danger. Think, then, of the 
perils of the crowded routs about town. Without them 
the fashionable London physicians would be ruined. 

There is a great probability that the temper of an as- 
sembly is often vastly influenced by the state of the air 
which it breathes, and to talk of a moral atmosphere is 
not altogether a figure of speech. It is certain that a 
crowded audience is usually most excitable at the com- 
mencement of a service, and the most attentive toward 
its close ; and it not unfrequently happens that at the end 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 313 

4 

of a long sermon the flushed faces and hazy eyes of the 
congregation too often indicate that bad blood is adding 
its influence to aggravate the mental confusion produced 
by a disorderly discourse. A physiologist may reason- 
ably inquire, whether the foul air of St. Stephen's have 
contributed to intensify the ill feeling of parties, and, by 
causing bad humors, have led to the enactment of bad 
laws? This question is not quite fanciful, since it is 
well known that malaria generally distempers the mind 
as well as the body, and therefore we may, without im- 
pertinence, hope that science will yet secure the credit 
of improving our legislature by supplying the lungs of its 
orators with better air. That the ferocity sometimes 
displayed among them may well be attributed to the 
effects of indigestion and rich living, aggravated by mala- 
ria, is rendered very probable from many prominent 
symptoms. But it is still to be apprehended that, un- 
less inspiration can be obtained from a higher source 
than the Victoria tower, the parliamentary palace will 
continue to exhibit any thing but the influence of the 
pure air of heaven. The case of our national orators is 
quite in keeping with a fact with which the police of 
Buenos Ayres are well acquainted — namely, that quar- 
reling and bloodshed are much more frequent when the 
wind blows from the north. Sir Woodbine Parish in- 
forms us, in his narrative of a visit to that place, that a 
sort of moral derangement prevails while that wind con- 
tinues. He relates that a gentleman, of amiable man- 
ners under ordinary circumstances, was so affected by 
this wind, that, whenever it prevailed, he would quarrel 
with any one he met; and he was at last executed for 
murder, after having been engaged in street-fights, with 
knives, at least twenty times. This wind produces 
headache and disorder of faculty to a great extent, and, 
of course, leads to increase of crime with all classes of 
persons who are accustomed readily to yield to their 



314 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

bodily impulses. No doubt the cause, as regards Buenos 
Ayres, arises from some malaria engendered in the 
marshes over which the wind passes. That the cause 
is chemical is proved by its effects on meat, which soon 
becomes putrid when exposed to it. The milk also 
quickly spoils, and the bread baked during its continu- 
ance is always bad. These facts suggest an extensive 
subject for consideration — namely, the influence of cli- 
mate and geographic peculiarity on mental character; but 
this, though so fertile and interesting a field of inquiry, 
can not be now entered on. The few sentences on the 
subject contained in the ninth chapter of this volume 
will suffice to show its importance. The science of 
atmospheric purification presents itself in all its vast 
dimensions when we consider the immense tracts of 
land which are rendered uninhabitable by man, or, at 
least, highly noxious to Europeans, in consequence of 
their being so abundantly productive of malaria. Civ- 
ilization and Christianity are literally arrested by the " 
powers of the air, and the dark places of the world are 
preserved to the dominion of malignant spirits, because 
the earth is allowed, by ignorance, to lie waste in her 
rank fertility. The miasmata arising from the swamps 
along the course of the Niger, while they possess the 
power of speedily destroying the life of adventurous 
and enlightened Europeans, seem only to favor the ex- 
uberant growth of the worst passions in the degenerate 
nations or tribes that are born to dwell amid their con- 
stant influence. But knowledge shall everywhere pre- 
vail, and fertility, now running wild, being at length di- 
rected and controlled by man, shall cause the richest 
natural blessings to abound in lands at present teeming 
with the fruits of that curse which fell upon the soil 
because of man's disobedience. It is strange that vege- 
tation should bear in its decay the bane of human life, 
and that the verdure which hides death should yet 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 315 

scatter pestilence through the air. The very elements 
of life thus war against man ; but man must yet conquer : 
he has received a commission to subdue the earth, and 
a will and a wisdom are inspired within his soul by 
which he must accomplish it. And not the least among 
the many wonderful coincidences of scientific advance- 
ment which favor the subjugation of savage lands by the 
civilized and intellectual, is the recent discovery of a 
mode of increasing the quantity of Quinine. Without 
this powerful febrifuge, Europeans would long ago have 
been arrested in their attempts to penetrate into the 
wastes of nature, by the desert luxuriance amid which 
pestilential fevers are so abundantly generated. Science 
is the handmaid of true religion, and the zeal of one but 
animates the other. When human energies are rightly 
employed, disease will diminish. Ignorance, the nurse 
of crime, must perish. Natural and revealed truths, 
being perfectly correspondent, are appointed to restore 
the golden age, and their apostles are abroad in every 
quarter of the globe, instructing men, by little and little, 
to purify the earth, that the air, which should be only the 
breath of life to all creatures, may no longer convey 
delirium and death to man. It has been ascertained by 
experiment that about a 15,000th of sulphuretted hydro- 
gen gas mixed with the atmosphere will kill birds, and 
produce just those effects on the human constitution 
which are described in the narrative of an expedition 
into the interior of Africa by the Niger, by Mr. M. 
Laird and R. A. B. Oldneld. " The horrid, sickening 
stench of this miasma must be experienced to be con- 
ceived ; no description can convey the wretched sensa- 
tion which is felt for some time before and after day- 
break. One is oppressed, not only bodily, but mental- 
ly, with an indescribable feeling of heaviness, languor, 
nausea, and disgust, which it requires a considerable 
effort to shake off." There can be no doubt that skillful 



316 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

draining and proper cultivation would soon exhaust this 
vast reservoir of pestilence, and open the heart of Africa 
to the blessings of free commerce. 

A degree of the same kind of miasma, is, I believe, 
not unfrequently felt, during warm weather, in the marshy 
districts of this country ; and I have often heard the 
fishermen on the southern coast of England talk of " a 
stinking fog," which occurs there on summer nights. 
They attribute depression of spirits, and several diseases, 
to its prevalence. I have myself experienced it, and 
observed its marked effects, especially on children, in 
producing fretfulness and feverishness, such as occur 
when they are deprived of fresh air. 

It was observed before, that the hydrogen and its 
combinations are the chief causes of poisonous deterio- 
ration of the air. The prevalence of these gases causes 
towns to be more frequently visited with low fevers than 
the country villages ; but their effects on the mind, though 
less appreciable than those on the body, are no doubt- 
very considerable, since it is shown by extensive expe- 
rience that the air may be rendered highly injurious to 
the nervous system, without being sensibly impure. 
The constancy of an evil influence, however feeble, at 
length prevails ; and thus human beings, daily subjected 
to inconvenience, instead of becoming merely inured, 
are more apt to become unnatural, in keeping with their 
position, physical sensitiveness taking the place of moral 
discrimination, and the holier affections being lost in the 
confusion of morbid feelings. Hydrogen gas is the most 
subtile and permeating of aeriform bodies ; and it ap- 
pears, by the analysis of Morcati and others, that it fa- 
vors the diffusion of morbid poisons, as a menstruum 
and vehicle, holding in solution both animal and vegeta- 
ble matters, which, being brought into contact with the 
blood, at once alter the chemical relations of that vital 
fluid, and produce a kind of persisting ferment in it. 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 317 

This gas facilitates decay, and its presence prevents the 
oxygen from duly acting on the blood, the carbon of 
which it causes to be very quickly combined with oxy- 
gen, so as to form carbonic acid, perhaps even in the 
blood-vessels. That a small addition of hydrogenated 
air operates most prejudicially on the functions of life, 
was demonstrated to a considerable extent during the 
excavation of the Thames tunnel, many of the men 
therein employed having suffered from a malady of a 
remarkable and very obstinate character, in which the 
blood became vapid and colorless, attended by peculiar 
debility of the muscular and nervous systems, and 
thence, of course, connected also with much mental dis- 
turbance and imbecility. It generally required some 
months of exposure to the cause to produce a full de- 
velopment of the disease, and an equally long employ- 
ment of the best medical appliances to obtain a cure. 
A fact of this kind throws light on the mental and phys- 
ical condition of the pallid, haggard, and unhappy 
crowds which may be met with in all great towns, and 
unwholesome districts, particularly those employed in 
crowded or badly ventilated apartments. We are sure 
to find moral and intellectual obtuseness at its acme 
where poverty of blood is added to the depravity of ig- 
norance, and the schoolmaster and the Christian minis- 
ter will do but little toward the amelioration of rude 
manners and morbid feelings, without first putting their 
dismal scholars in the way to obtain healthful employ- 
ment, pure air, and wholesome food. 

The influence of air and gentle exercise, in maintain- 
ing intellectual vigor, is well exemplified by the wide 
difference in mental progress and temper between a 
school managed on physiological principles and one on 
the old, rough, monotonous plan. An interruption to 
the tasks by a walk in the garden, or, what is still 
better, a romp in the playground, while the school- 



318 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

room is being freely ventilated, seems to have the effect 
of bringing the sunshine in-doors, for the youug aspirants 
again set smilingly to their work, with all their hearts 
reinvigorated in a natural manner. 

If mental application and bodily restraint be not duly 
interchanged with complete action of the limbs and 
lungs, with entire freedom of mind, the body will be- 
come enfeebled, distorted, and diseased ; and the mind, 
instead of gaining strength in proportion to the sedulous 
attempt at education, will also generally grow distorted in 
all its faculties. Hence the artifices and refinements of 
ladies' boarding-schools are too commonly successful in 
producing to the full their natural effects, in crooked 
spines, depraved stomachs, whimsical nerves, peevish 
tempers, and indolent minds. Such are the results of 
the finished education of multitudes, who are destined 
to be the miserable mothers of a puny and fretful race, 
or who, too visibly unfit to fulfill the grand purposes of 
their sex, are doomed to breathe out their weary exist- 
ence in struggles to suppress the thought of that sphere 
of usefulness and happiness which their affections and 
their faculties might, but for the state of their bodies, 
have so well qualified them to adorn. Wrecks of God's 
best workmanship ! He only can ameliorate your mis- 
erable condition, and rectify the ruin into which the 
huge and hideous follies of artificial and most ungodly 
training have introduced your lonely spirits. We ought 
to take every opportunity to protest against the mis- 
management which, in spite of popular treatises on phys- 
iology and physical education, still prevails in the ma- 
jority of ladies' schools. Nor is the evil quite unknown 
among the very precise few who keep select schools 
for young gentlemen. The good, nervous gentleman, 
who owns the headship, is, perhaps, a character who 
loves his books better than the sunshine and the breezes 
on the hills around the church, and he can not endure 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 319 

noises : so the boys must be tamed and domesticated, 
without proper exercise in the air, because the weather 
is wet, or looks showery, and they can not be allowed a 
good rough game within doors, because it encourages rude 
and boorish manners. So " ingenias dedicesse fideliter ar- 
tes," &c, is often quoted to them — " nee sinit esse fe- 
ros" — the mores are effectually mollified by tasks, tasks, 
tasks, from dawn to darkness, with prayers for blessings 
morning and evening : while the chief blessings of fresh 
air, sunshine, aod health are too often neglected, be- 
cause they are to be had by simply running out for 
them. Of course, boys thus cultivated are only fit for a 
hothouse sort of life, or, if they recover a degree of vig- 
or when emancipated from school, their brains hav- 
ing been so misused, and the habits of their minds so 
unnaturally fixed between heathenisms in sweet metres 
and Christian words without Christian ways, the vast 
probability is, that they will seek enjoyment in any but 
a manly manner : their intellect will be all awry, and, 
not being able to maintain a commanding position in so- 
ciety, although stored with intelligence, they will apolo- 
gize freely to their own consciences for indulging in 
such vices as they happen to fancy ; spend their fortunes, 
if they have any, in association with abandoned misery ; 
and not unfrequently, at length, finding beer, tobacco, 
and debauchery only aggravate the sensibility of their 
genius, take to constant dram-drinking, then to opium- 
eating, and then to suicide. 

Against the mighty mischiefs entailed on our daugh- 
ters by the stiff and starched system of muslin education, 
is what we should be now most earnest and constant in 
declaiming ; for the evils are almost incalculably great, and 
will grow with the rapid increase of false refinement, un- 
less firmly, feelingly, affectionately resisted by fathers and 
mothers who are alive to these enormities. Perhaps, when 
it is understood that young men have learned to value 



320 INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE AND AIR 

young women for their health, the liberty of their ribs, 
and that freedom of mind which is seldom known without a 
free use of the limbs, the plan of preparation will improve ; 
and we shall more frequently see accomplished women 
in the majesty of natural beauty and gracefulness, instead 
of merely manufactured ladies, the stinted results of the 
most cruel artifice, which, at the best, makes only pretty 
dress-dolls, but too often converts what was naturally ex- 
cellent into bedecked deformities of temper, face, and 
figure. Dr. Forbes says that he examined forty girls at 
a boarding-school, and every one of them who had been 
at school above two years was crooked. Those schools 
are the best, where science is brought into action ; but 
those are the worst, where the worst affectations of the 
higher classes are abundantly imitated, without the 
means or the knowledge necessary for the fulfillment of 
educational duty and bodily training. These establish- 
ments are the nurseries of pale, sickly, listless, peevish 
girls, who, if their stay be prolonged, are sure to be 
rendered entirely unfit to become happy wives and 
healthy mothers. A moderate share of health is a rare 
thing among women of the leisurely classes of society ; 
and however their natural excellence of disposition, and 
the peculiar amability of the sex may tend to preserve 
them from the charge of ill temper, still it is certain that 
the larger number of them would have been far more 
nearly perfect in moral and mental dignity, if the unjus- 
tifiable restraints of school, stays, and inactivity had not 
curtailed them of their fair proportions, and, by disturb- 
ing the developing processes of bodily life, interrupted 
the growth or manifestation of the soul into the fullness 
of its beauty, and left it, a task almost beyond the power 
of the discommoded mind, to regulate the will by the 
dictates of knowledge and wisdom, because disordered 
sensations so habitually distort and confuse the ideas. 
That this deficiency of bodily power among young ladies 



ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 321 

must be attributed chiefly to the want of bodLy exercise 
in the air, may be proved, by comparing the walking 
power between the young women and the young men 
of the same family. No doubt the disfiguring habit of 
compressing the lungs, heart, liver, and stomach, by tight 
stays, during the period of growth, is another pregnant 
cause of debility and distortion ; but this is the more in- 
jurious, because it acts mainly as an impediment to 
breathing, and to the taking full exercise : the lungs are 
not allowed completely to expand, the heart is oppressed, 
the muscles of the chest are atrophied, and the muscles 
of the rest of the body not being supplied with sufficient 
rapidity with oxygenated blood, they refuse to obey, the 
nervous system suffers, the back grows crooked, and the 
brain irritable. Alas, then, for the temper ! It can not 
be too strongly enforced that endeavors to mold the body 
into unnatural shape, by hindering the action of any of 
the muscles, is to produce deformity by the excessive 
action of other muscles. The powers of the body are 
antagonistic ; the balance is preserved by the operation 
of opposing forces : and the proper object of education is, 
therefore, to adjust the equilibrium by the appropriate 
exercise of each part. And the mind, like the body, can 
be developed into beauty and strength, by calisthenic 
exercises of its own. The faculties and affections re- 
quire employment, according to their states, with a view 
to the social system, and thus to the well-being of the 
self-hood of each soul ; but, as law demands obedience, 
and obedience is only visible in action, that teaching is 
of little avail to the mind, which does not control the 
body. 
21 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 

We will now pass from genteel miseries to those of a 
more vulgar order. The tyranny of trade compels mul- 
titudes to submit to a drudgery of toil scarcely less de- 
structive to mental independence and enlargement than 
the former slavery of our old colonies. Although com- 
merce is the natural emancipator of the mind, yet, 
perhaps, by some strange political mismanagement, it 
has in this country erected a vast impediment to the 
education and elevation of the minds of the operative 
classes, by causing a demand for the labor of children, 
to the exclusion, in a great measure, of grown persons ; 
thus reversing the order of nature by making parents 
depend on the wages of their little ones. The very idea 
suggests countless evils of enormous magnitude, to 
which we can only allude. It is, however, impossible 
to avoid a brief consideration of the subject, as it affects 
the mental state of children so employed. Common 
sense and feeling assure us that the playful activity of 
the buoyant child ought to be giving merriment to the 
village-green, or the hum of busy and happy learning 
to the village school, rather than toiling away its puny 
strength in gathering wealth for mercenary pride. 

The slave that searches for the dust of gold, or delves 
under the lash to plant for others the sweet cane, has 
the benefit of pure air and healthy exercise, and of 
sufficient repose ; he grows rr just, and the vigor of his 
body supplies something like enjoyment to his brutish 



PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 323 

mind ; but those who are too hardly and too early 
worked attain the furrows of old age ere the first bloom 
of womanhood or of manly energy appears, and with 
undeveloped mind, it may be sensible enough to the 
infectious sympathies of vice, and with bodies, the mere 
rough sketch of humanity, they often steal through their 
struggling life without once enjoying a full and proper 
taste of the genuine happiness of home, with all its 
kindred sweets of busy intellect and affection. Labor 
and penury blight and wither both heart and soul. The 
music and beauty of green valleys and heathery hills 
are known to such only in the words of melancholy 
songs, and the inspiring freshness of the summer sky 
has been felt but just enough to enter into the imagina- 
tion of a higher and a toilless world. Hope dies not; 
God is theirs, and He hears their cry. Yet we know 
the day of rest can scarcely be valued in their weariness 
of the flesh, but because the harsh voice fails, while yet 
dark night lies cold upon the world, to rouse the weary 
sleeper from his bed. 

It is not strange that mental and moral as well as 
physical disease should be frequent inmates of such 
dwellings. The sweet charities of our better nature, and 
the higher virtues which religion brings like an angelic 
train with her from heaven, can scarcely gain admittance 
among the squalid and absorbing miseries of that terrible 
penury and bodily exhaustion which man's inhumanity 
compels thousands of his kindred to endure. By starts 
the soul awakes, struggling for mastery, but the unnerved 
body obeys not. The luxury of stupid obliviousness is 
its only heaven. 

When Crabbe, the poet, accompanied by his amiable 
wife, visited one of the cotton factories, full of engines 
thundering with resistless power, yet under the apparent 
management of little children, the sight of the little 
creatures condemned to such a mode of life in their days 



324 PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 

of innocence, quite overcame her feelings, and she burst 
into tears. Well might her maternal heart be greatly 
moved, for she felt at a glance the unnatural compulsion 
and misery that must be at work to convert such a 
number of hopeful and eager children, souls just fresh 
from their Maker, panting for love and knowledge, into 
living appendages of a senseless machinery. But she 
knew not the long history of wretchedness, bodily and 
mental, connected with their toil, and, indeed, with 
almost every department of labor, especially where 
women and children are employed. Dr. James Phillips 
Kay, a physician, who practiced in Manchester, uses 
these words in writing concerning the poor " drudges :" 
44 The employment absorbs their attention; their perse- 
vering labor must rival the mathematical precision, the 
incessant motion, the exhaustless power of the machine. 
These patients lose flesh : their features are sharpened, 
the skin becomes sallow, or of the yellow hue which is 
observed in those who have suffered from the influence 
of tropical climates. The strength fails, the capacities 
of physical enjoyment are destroyed, and the paroxysms 
of corporeal suffering are aggravated by deep mental 
depression." 

Mammon calculates the wear and tear of steam engines 
and spinning jennies rather than of human souls and 
bodies. 

The following occurs in the evidence of William Ras- 
trick, before Mr. Saddler's Committee in 1832: "Was 
it not found necessary to beat children to keep them up 
to their employment? Certainly. Did the beating in- 
crease toward evening ? Their strength relaxes more 
toward the evening : they get tired, and they twist them- 
selves about on their legs, and stand on the sides of 
their feet. When you w T ere employed as an overlooker, 
and had to superintend those children, was not the em- 
ployer aware that you had to stimulate them to labor by 



PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 325 

severity ? Certainly he was, and it is always consid- 
ered indispensable. Would he himself rather urge tc 
that course than to the contrary '? His object was, in 
every case, to get a certain quantity of work done by 
some means or other, but when it was necessary for the 
overlooker to use severity, he had to bear the stigma, 
and not the master. Did you not find it very irksome 
to your feelings to take those means of urging the chil- 
dren to the work ? Extremely so ; I have been compelled 
to urge them on to work when I felt they could not bear 
it, but I was obliged to make them strain every nerve 
to do the work, and I can say I have been disgusted 
with myself and my situation. I felt myself degraded, 
and reduced to the level of a slave-driver in such 
cases." 

The following is one among many horrific answers 
given by Samuel Coulson. It is taken from a work en- 
titled — "Evils of the Factory System demonstrated by 
Parliamentary Evidence" by Charles Wing, Esq. 

" Question. Were the children excessively fatigued 
by this labor ? 

" Answer. Many times we have cried when we have 
given them the little victualing we have to give them. 
We had to shake them, and they had fallen asleep with 
the victuals in their mouths many a time." 

The giant evil which thus oppressed the weak and 
defenseless is now, happily, somewhat restrained ; the 
voice of Christian philanthropy is heard, and national 
and selfish policy yields a little to her demand. Many 
large manufacturers fear God and regard man ; and their 
efforts, therefore, to ameliorate the condition of their op- 
eratives are extensively praiseworthy and blessed. Oth- 
ers, however, who yield nothing of their greediness but to 
the force of the law, need most jealous watching. Facts 
demand the improvement and regulation of factories 
under wise and Christian laws ; and that the more because 



326 PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT, 

their existence as a means of industry, under proper 
management, has been proved replete with blessings both 
moral and physical, where the domestic relations have 
not been impaired by the employment thus afforded to 
the crowded poor. Far be it from Christians to desire 
the destruction of our manufactural interests : Christian- 
ity does not destroy, but regulates industry, and thus 
increases both its power and its blessings. 

Wealth-worship, like all mere idolatry, is ever at- 
tended with cruelty, and it still calls for victims ; no sac- 
rifice appeases its cravings, and Mammon, when he may, 
always drive his slaves to death. It matters not what 
the trade be, if the master is inspired by no better prin- 
ciple than selfishness : his minions must all stoop to that, 
and accordingly suffer the depressing influence of hope- 
less toil, which must always result in the aggravation of 
eommon depravity. The effects on the body are but a 
small part of the evil induced by excessive employment; 
the physical evils are pregnant with moral evils of the 
most terrible kind. The purposes of mental existence 
can not be fulfilled, and the nervous distress arising from 
daily exhaustion constrains the sufferer, in his ignorance, 
to resort to artificial methods of excitement to obtain some- 
thing like an occasional sense of animal power. Hence 
we find gin, opium, and spices in large demand among 
the operatives of our great manufacturing towns. But 
these excitements leave the body still more susceptible 
of exhaustion, and, by arousing the organism of the pas- 
sions while enfeebling the intellect, they produce in- 
tense irritability of temper, to which all persons subject 
to constant weariness are of course greatly predisposed ; 
hence these poisonous appliances act upon their tired 
nervous system with resistless force, overpowering eveiy 
lingering suggestion of conscience, sapping the basis of 
integrity, dissolving the last relics of manly virtue, im- 
parting scowling cowardice in the place of open courage, 



PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 327 

fixing in the very constitution of the physical fabric an 
almost immovable barrier to all moral improvement or 
spiritual aspiration, and as effectually serving the pur- 
poses of the foul fiend, the tempter, and accuser, as if 
his demons held complete management and possession 
both of the body and the soul. The artificial habit is 
domestic, and infants at the breast are used to drams 
and opiates. Alas ! still too often the baby nestles but 
little in the mother's bosom. The mother is lost in the 
starving slave, who toils for life by wearing it away, 
while her perishing little one slumbers with opium, or 
appeals, by its wailing, to unnatural charity and to breasts 
that are sealed. Hence the few children that reach ma- 
ture age are prepared only for vice and disease, especially 
as the fatigue and duration of daily labor, which they 
soon begin, allow them no time for education, but, to- 
gether with the morbid appetite acquired in the cradle, 
only demand more stimulus as they advance in life, 
which must thus be soon worn out. 

It will be proper again to observe, that the animad- 
versions on the factory system contained in this chapter 
are applicable only to certain places, where that system 
is unmercifully abused. There is abundant evidence to 
show that many manufactories are most righteously con- 
ducted, and therefore with advantages to the operatives, 
both as regards bodily and mental health, far superior to 
those which are commonly enjoyed by any other class 
of laborers. Yet the physical diseases and mental and 
moral abandonment produced by exhaustion, are cer- 
tainly always most numerously exemplified in large man- 
ufacturing towns, and therefore the evil can not be too 
strongly urged upon the public mind, in order that all 
classes may see the necessity of a remedy, and unite in 
endeavors to obtain it. 

There are those who have it in their power to con- 
tribute in many ways toward the amelioration of our 



328 PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 

laboring population, who, nevertheless, put not forth a 
finger to the burden, but rather continue to add oppres- 
sion to oppression for their own convenience, and, 

" With necessity, the tyrant's plea, 
Excuse their devilish deeds." 

With such individuals, whoever they are, and however 
numerous or threatening, Christianity allows no com- 
promise, no truce, no parley. 

We will now proceed to another department of drud- 
gery not so often thought of. Many shopmen and ap- 
prentices are confined behind the counter fourteen or 
fifteen hours a-day, in impure air and ceaseless worry. 
Night arrives, but they toil on till ten or eleven, with 
flushed cheek, and fevered pulse, and heavy brow. Sleep 
and work are their only lawful engagements, if we may 
judge from the requirements of the comfortable master, 
who at an early hour retires from care and business to 
the enjoyment of the country, or the social blessings of 
the parlor or the drawing-room. And is it then sur- 
prising that consumption, decay, and death should be 
more busy among the denizens of towns than of rural 
hamlets ? 

" With the year 
Seasons return : but not to them returns 
The sight of vernal bloom or summer's rose, 
Or flocks or herds. — But clouds instead." 

Is it then a wonder that so many of such should wither 
in soul as they droop in body, and yield their spirits to 
the seduction of any debauchery which may serve occa- 
sionally to diversify the stale monotony of their doom ? 
Life should be a power of enjoying the body and soul in 
pursuits congenial to the faculties of both. Those who 
wear out their clerks and apprentices with constant de- 
votion to Mammon are answerable for a great deal of 
licentiousness and Sabbath-breaking. But the case is 
worse with the meeker and more gentle part of our spe- 



PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 329 

cies, whose training and nature fit them for the more 
sedentary occupations. It is fearful to reflect on the 
miseries of mind and body entailed on the many thou- 
sands of young females who obtain their meager pittance 
of a livelihood by needle-work. The struggle to endure 
the artificial destroys the natural. A morbid aggravation 
of their peculiar infirmities soon brings them under bond- 
age to all those sensations known as dyspeptic and hys- 
terical symptoms. The fine feelings on which the excel- 
lence of female character is formed, and those affections 
which require only the encouragement of time and op- 
portunity to make a home blessed and sacred, are all 
blighted. Natural affections dare not expand : there is 
no room for them in the crowded and unnatural estab- 
lishment ; they can not grow pent up in an atmosphere 
redolent of fashion. What will not pay can never be 
permitted : so there is no exercise possible but of the 
eyes and fingers, and the aching nerves, which are every 
day weary, even to agony, with looking at and handling 
silks and cottons and artificial flowers. Thus the in- 
tellect and the heart become alike beclouded ; but the 
sensibilities which pertain to the cardinal vices are the 
last to die, they are even strengthened by atrophy of 
soul ; and as that enjoyment which flows from the feeling 
of vital vigor is sealed up at the fountain, the mind seeks 
for zests in keeping with its degraded condition. Hence 
the corroding cordial of gin is no secret in dress-making 
establishments ; but yet their inmates do not rapidly fall 
into perdition, since they are long shielded by an in- 
stinctive dread of all that disgusts hopeful humanity. 
Some there are among them who, perhaps, scarcely 
come into the category of responsible agents, for they 
have from the cradle been familiarized with vice in its 
worst forms, and although they may have been taught 
to disguise their nature and their habits by an exterior 
decency, still the poisonous contagion oozes from them, 



330 PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 

and others are contaminated. Thus, from their bodily 
and mental inactivity, and from their increased suscep- 
tibility, and their gradual association with the impurity 
about them, multitudes of young women, being robbed 
of the power of employing their bodies happily, that is, 
with natural hopefulness, become more easily deluded 
by any wretch who may promise to love them, for dis- 
appointed nature is apt to become desperate. But there 
is still a lower grade of needle-women who obtain " an 
abidence," as they aptly term it, or starved subsistence, 
by making shirts at five farthings a-piece ! These 

" Work — work — work, 

From weary chime to chime ; 
Work — work — work, 

As prisoners work for crime." 

It is true that a solacing thought may spring up, like 
starlight in the darkness of such an existence ; but this 
world must still be bitter, cold, and hard to the weary 
and heavy-laden lonely woman ; and even if some word 
has been dropped by the Savior to soothe the soul of 
such a one, with hope of coming rest and gladness, yet 
she must feel that Christians are too scarce, or she would 
not be left thus alone in her faith to struggle with deso- 
lation and weakness. 

When we consider that the exercise of volition always 
tends to exhaust the brain, and disqualify the mind for 
thinking or attending, we shall not be surprised to find 
that excessive bodily action not only degrades man as 
an intellectual, but also as a moral agent. The will and 
the understanding are alike distracted, and as the one 
is essential to the proper use of the other, both equally 
betray a tendency to perversion. Although, indeed, it 
requires no refinement of intelligence, no learned leisure 
to perceive our duty both toward God and toward man, 
yet its due fulfillment demands an habitual effort of soul 
which constant labor of muscle perhaps entirely pre- 



PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 331 

eludes. He whose whole existence is seemingly valued 
by society only in proportion to the amount in which he 
can exercise his brutal strength for the accomplishment 
of a certain quantity of dead work, is not likely to be 
influenced by the dictates of a fine conscience. His po- 
sition and his treatment teach him nothing of his relation 
to immortal spirits. His affections are scarcely allowed 
to be expanded beyond himself. The indulgence of his 
body must be almost his sole delight. To eat is essen- 
tial, to sleep necessary, because he can not work without 
strength ; but to reflect on the works of God, to asso- 
ciate, through books or the sympathies with living souls 
conversant with their Maker, — that is foreign to his sta- 
tion. Knowledge and slavery do not agree, and there- 
fore those who prefer enslaving their brethren, that they 
may delve in the mine without a right to the metal thence 
extracted, advocate ignorance, lest the inspired word, 
exhorting all men to be free, should awaken the enchain- 
ed. In this country, however, that blessed word is felt 
stirring through the mass of society like a life, and there- 
fore toil is not enforced directly with the lash, but by 
the keener persuasions of hunger. Religion is made to 
bear upon the bodily workers, but in too many cases as 
if only to show that it is a duty to labor incessantly, be- 
cause the Scripture says that he who will not work, 
neither should he eat. Hunger is a strong stimulant, 
but conscience is stronger, and no doubt many toil all 
day, and suddenly fall asleep at night with resignation to 
God on their lips and in their hearts ; yet, under such 
circumstances, however warmly their affections may 
cause them to cling together in family clusters, there 
can be but little room and opportunity for the improve- 
ment of habits either of action, thought, or feeling ; and 
their ideas must be almost as few as their pleasures. A 
sort of mechanical morality is thus apt to be substituted 
for that happy alacrity of obedience which springs from 



332 PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 

reason's quiet intimacy with spiritual truths. Such mo- 
rality is like mill-work, which goes on steadily, because 
formed to work when set in motion. Man, however, has 
a soul ; and it requires exercise as well as his muscles ; 
but without leisure for thought, and for the use of brain 
and nerves, for other purposes than those of toil, toil, toil, 
he grows wild at heart, like a savage driven, by his in- 
human position, to grub roots for his life all day long. 
Exhaustion is a perfect sedative, and wisely is it so or- 
dered by our Maker; for our wills, as regards the body, 
had better be suspended when the body is unfit for ex- 
ercise. When there is no enjoyment in thinking, there 
is no motive for thought ; and therefore we may be sure 
to find ignorance, vice, and misery connected with excess 
of labor, whether in town or in country, because suf- 
ficient food is not more needful than sufficient rest for 
the maintenance of good feeling. As a starved body can 
not be called into exercise without madness, so neither 
can a starved soul ; and it requires something more than 
philosophy to enable a man contentedly to suffer any 
want. The practical end of the matter is this . we should 
show charity and forbearance toward each other up to 
the full extent of the Christian law, if we would improve 
others or enjoy ourselves. Every one, moreover, who 
loves life truly, and wishes to keep his soul fresh and 
fair for departure, should maintain an intimacy between 
his heart and all nature, and by all means avoid excess- 
ive labor, monotony, and fixedness. Let him dwell among 
the hills, with trees, and flowers, and streams, and singing 
birds, that if dark thoughts come over him in the twi- 
light, he may quietly turn to the stars and to his Bible. 
Should any trouble disturb the heavenward will, go forth 
into the freedom of light and air, and feel the Infinite 
about you, my reader ! Or if disease or decrepitude, 01 
painful necessity of any kind afflict you, at least, get the 
freshest thoughts you can from the minds of those who 



PREMATURE AN1 EXCESSIVE EMPLOYMENT. 333 

describe what they feel in natural imagery, so that your 
soul may be with them, as if abroad in the wide world 
of sights and sounds ; above all, keep your mind busy 
with the realities of good to come. Whatever vexations 
rack your heart, go out mentally, and bodily, too, if pos- 
sible. But do not fancy that sauntering in the sunshine 
alone is not solitude. If you are peculiarly burdened 
with care, you will need a companion in your walks, 
and the best you can have then is a young child, for 
from such a one you may learn how you ought to live — 
namely, by faith, and thus enjoy the goodness of God to 
the utmost, by casting ail your cares upon the Parent. 
In short, always take with you some object of love, or 
look for one. Be free. Those whom Providence or 
Mammon has shut up in smoky towns ought to seize all 
proper opportunities to reach the region of green fields, 
or otherwise they will surely degenerate into gossipers. 
The spirit of a man loses nothing by a wise use of holy- 
days, and business gains much from the greater aptitude 
of a refreshed soul. To restore the affections and fac- 
ulties to a healthy state is the end of religion, and every 
kind of exercise that will conduce to this consummation 
*8, therefore, a religious duty 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

As both the intellect and the will are called into exer- 
cise by our affections, so mental energy grows amid 
difficulties, and our moral being is trained to perfection 
by many trials. But yet the present constitution of man 
demands rest as well as action, and, therefore, whenever 
exertion has impaired the organic functions of life, or 
the nervous system is exhausted, a tendency to sleep 
occurs. In a country where the days and nights are 
pretty equally divided, the alternations of activity and- 
repose partake of the regular return of daylight and of 
darkness, because the excitability of the organism for 
the most part requires daily restoration ; but in coun- 
tries, such as Lapland, where days and nights are pro- 
longed into months, the inhabitants seek repose accord- 
ing to the degree of their labor, or the demands made 
by their minds on the energies of their bodies. Sleep, 
then, does not depend on the recurrence of night, but 
on some internal cause, as, indeed, is demonstrated by 
facts presented in several preceding chapters. Czer- 
mack, Berthold, and others, have, however, proved, that 
periodic rest is necessary for the reproduction of that 
power in the nerves by which the will is enabled to act 
on the muscles ; and hence we learn that a due propor- 
tion of repose is essential to the proper manifestation of 
mind, in the orderly use of the body. But this is more 
especially and evidently the case in children ; for as 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 335 

growth and invigoration are mainly promoted during 
sleep, of course, if they be not allowed a sufficiency of it, 
they are sure to become both mentally and physically fee- 
ble and dwarfish, memory and volition becoming alike 
confused by bodily inaptitude and debility. The expe- 
rience of every one who is in the habit of thinking must 
have taught him, that the mind acts with most deliberate 
power in the morning, and also that the thoughts become 
associated with ideas of exertion whenever the body is 
refreshed; so that we feel that the time for planning 
is after the body has been duly rested, and before it is 
again called into exercise. The memory is clearer in 
the morning, or at least soon after awaking from healthy 
sleep, because the thinking power is then free from 
those impressions which crowd on the senses during 
the activity of the day ; for new thoughts arise, together 
with remembered ideas, in the renewal of nervous 
power, and the associations of the past are more per- 
fectly perceived and interpreted by the understanding ; 
while the senses, being refreshed, but not strongly ex- 
cited, our self-consciousness is at the highest, so that 
our affections, whether good or bad, joyous or griev- 
ous, hopeful or despondent, are then most potently 
experienced. The vivacity of thought and expression 
is, however, most remarkable in the excitement of soci- 
ety, because our intellects are called into play by our 
sympathies ; hence the evening is the favorable time for 
wit, the flashes of which often partake somewhat of the 
nature of delirium, in consequence of the readiness with 
which the mind yields to suggestive impressions, since 
imagination is of course most active when the body is so 
far wearied as to render entire rest of the muscles 
agreeable, while the brain is yet not so far fatigued as 
to require sleep, and while the mind is still faintly busy 
with some present object of affection. The dimness of 
evening is also favorable to meditation, because much 



336 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

light stimulates the optic nerve to a degree that distracts 
the attention from remembered ideas, and impresses 
realities too forcibly to permit imagination free exercise. 

The soul, if sensible of its capacity and worth, looks 
into its own history, when not engaged in using the 
senses on outward objects ; hence the man of genius 
withdraws himself from things for the sake of thoughts, 
and catches the images of creation, to arrange them in 
new order in his mind, according to the habit of his de- 
sires. Thus the poet most glowingly conceives his 
ideas, and composes his stanzas with greatest facility, 
when the heavens are calm and the vesper-star is seen 
above the clouds, and " all the landscape glimmers on 
the sight;" but in the morning which is the historic 
time, he sees that the winged words and burning 
thoughts which carried his soul captive need the correc- 
tions of sober memory and the schoolmaster, almost as 
much as the wild reasoning of an ordinary dream would 
need the severer logic of w T akeful experience-to reduce 
it to consistency. 

When considering the necessity of sleep and bodily 
repose to the vigorous employment of the mind, we are 
apt to draw a conclusion somewhat unfavorable to our 
estimate of the spiritual powers of man ; but this arises 
from our not duly weighing the evidence before us, or 
from our overlooking the fact that we learn more con- 
cerning the faculties of the soul from sleep than we 
could do without it. Did you ever reflect on the re- 
markable circumstance, that the wish to accomplish any 
thing in a dream is immediately followed by the impres- 
sion that the thing desired is actually done ? The soul 
takes her wishes for granted, and the train of her thoughts 
is directed to event after event, one springing out of the 
other, like the figures of kaleidoscope, in an infinite 
series, or at least interminable in their variety and con- 
tinuance, except by the exchange of waking ideas for 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 337 

dreaming fancies. The deed and the desire are one to 
the spirit, because the will and the understanding work 
together, and whatever impediment may be imagined, 
its removal may also be imagined, and therefore in our 
dreams our affections are exercised in all their license. 
Now, from this circumstance we see at once that there 
is something willing and working according to its own 
nature, and not according to any material laws ; for 
material laws did not create, nor can they maintain, 
will, desire, imagination, memory, love, fear, nor any 
other mental state or feeling. Objects are not affections, 
nor things ideas, but every being that can perceive ob- 
jects has ideas and affections, because it perceives and 
• feels other existences in relation to itself. We think and 
dream according to our experience in combining ideas, 
and the dispositions that are proper to us as individuals 
determine the nature of our imagined visions. 

Every one who understands any thing of physiology 
is fully aware that the ultimate seat of sensation, physi- 
cally speaking, is the brain. If those portions of it 
which correspond with the senses are destroyed, the 
power of exciting sensation is as completely obliterated 
as if the senses themselves were quite annihilated. Wo 
find, then, that the mind, by attending and becoming 
impressed by certain changes in the brain, obtains the 
perception of different objects, and on these objects the 
mind reasons, not only according to what it at the time 
perceives, but also what it remembers. Now, since 
sensation is begotten in the mind by certain states of the 
brain, and the direction of thought is according to the 
nature of the sensation, together with the previous 
knowledge belonging to the individual, it follows that 
dreams, in as far as they are excited by sensation, must 
be produced by such actions in the brain as resemble 
those which excite sensation. But as our inferences 
from sensation are modified by our experience, and the 
22 



338 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

train of our thoughts, set in motion by sensation, pro- 
ceeds according to the habit of our reasoning faculty, so 
dreams will be more or less rational according to the 
vividness with which the mind acts, and has been ac- 
customed to reason. The sensations which excite 
dreaming arise from peculiar states of brain then pres- 
ent, but the order and nature of the dreams themselves 
must depend on the past. Doubtless, the dreams of 
vigorous minds are always more complete than they 
afterward seem ; for what we distinctly remember on 
waking, is but a small part of what has passed before 
the mind in dreaming. To hunt for forgotten dreams 
is proverbially a useless task. If we would test these 
facts, we may whisper in the ear of a dreamer, and we 
shall find that ideas will be suggested according to our 
pleasure ; but yet, perhaps, not one of them will be re- 
called when he awakes. 

Physiology can no more account for dreams than it 
can for thoughts. Why do we reason ? Why do we 
connect the past with the present ? Why do we hope? 
Why do w T e fear? Surely not merely because we have 
senses, but because it is our nature to seek enjoyment, 
according to our knowledge and convictions, which, of 
course, only signifies that we are beings capable of 
knowledge and conviction, of which, however, physiol- 
ogists have not yet proved the body to be susceptible, 
and therefore they ought to acknowledge an immaterial 
thinking being. A few words more on what happens 
in dreaming will illustrate this observation. It is the 
property of the thinking being always to endeavor to 
associate present objects with those previously known, 
as if to classify new phenomena, and in a degree, to 
explain them by comparison with previous information. 
Philosophy itself is only a better kind of superstition, 
endeavoring to explain mysteries according to precon- 
ceived notions; just as in our dreams we unriddle one 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 339 

truth, or one absurdity, by supposing another. While 
dreaming, we account for any new thing with such 
amazing complacency, that the strangest combinations 
of objects scarcely surprise us. In short, we form our 
dreams by referring every idea that occurs to some class 
of thoughts which had before passed through our minds. 
Thus, a person having fallen asleep with his face toward 
a narrow stream of light, immediately began to dream 
that a column of darkness had grown up before him. 
The idea of this darkness would, we know, be excited 
by the eye having been directed to the light. Speedily 
this black column seemed rapidly whirling along over a 
wide plain. This idea of motion was probably excited 
by the movement of the eye, but it was no sooner per- 
ceived or imagined, than the mind began to explain it, 
by associating it with what had been heard concerning 
columns of sand carried before the whirlwinds. Imme- 
diately he seemed to be in a burning desert of Africa, 
with the red sun on the verge of the horizon, while the 
vast column of sand was hurrying to overwhelm him ; 
but in a moment some miracle saved him, and he awoke. 
Now it is very evident that physical phenomena pro- 
duced the sensations which excited the mind ; but the 
mind itself made the dream, partly of memory and 
partly of sensation. Then, again, the manner in which 
the mind goes back to the past for its ideas in dream- 
ing, suggests the profundity of mystery which be- 
longs to the subject, and at the same time, informs us 
that the operations of the mind are not to be explained 
by the anatomist. Why did Huber, after forty years 
of total blindness, dream of the sights familiar to his 
childhood ? If dreams result from reflex action of the 
brain, and the images conveyed through the senses are 
reproduced only because the nerves physically retain 
their impressions, then have we the vast marvel of ma- 
terial substances preserving in themselves ten thousand 



340 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

thousand pictures of the past, all mixed together, and 
yet not confounded ; each dependent on a particular 
state of the nervous fibrils, and yet all the particular 
states existing at once in a latent state, and every image 
of the countless multitude fixed in the nerve-matter, 
capable of being spontaneously represented and recog- 
nized by that matter. How much more reasonably are 
the facts reconciled with each other, by concluding that 
it is the individual soul that is the subject of experience, 
and that memory, will, and understanding belong not to 
the corporeal medium, but to the being that reasons, 
and that therefore it can not be the brain that dreams, 
but the soul which uses it. The whole subject is inex- 
plicable, and all experience utterly conflicting, if there 
be not some individual being subject to all the variety of 
perception and emotion induced by its connection with 
matter liable to variations of condition, which may re- 
mind it of preceding impressions, and call upon it to 
exercise its inherent power of comparison and associa-. 
tion. Dreaming and delirium are but memory modified 
by the state of the w T ill in relation to the body. Hence, 
aged persons are apt, in their mental absence, whether 
asleep or awake, to behold the scenes familiar to their 
youth, and in imagination, so to associate with the dead, 
as sometimes not to be able to distinguish them from the 
living. It is no uncommon thing for such persons to 
sleep soundly, and yet say they have not slept at all ; 
and that merely because their dreams are so vivid and 
distinct that they confound them with realities ; and in 
that kind of delirium frequently experienced in the fee- 
bleness of old age, the features, the dress, the language 
of friends, are exactly recalled, after scores of years 
passed apparently in entire forgetfulness of them. We 
know that some physiologists will tell us that the inter- 
nal apparatus of vision — the brain alone — is essential to 
the productions of phantasms. But we answer, that a 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION*. 341 

remembered thing is not a mere phantasm, but a fact, 
belonging to individual experience, which the working 
of the brain alone could no more recall, than it could at 
first have produced. As the soul saw the object at first, 
so the soul beholds the remembered image or idea. 
Memory and imagination are but the operations of the 
thinking being, under the impression of circumstances ; 
and the soul forms objects to itself out of sensations, 
according to the degree of intelligence and state of the 
will. But we may now pass on with advantage from 
these considerations, briefly to reflect on the influence 
of disease on mental manifestation. 

How does physical disorder operate on thought ? 
Does it alter the quality of that which thinks ? No. 
The body is only more or less manageable by the soul. 
Fatigue is a felt necessity for rest, in order to prepaid 
the body for the use of the soul. This state may be 
illustrated by what happens in disease. In maladies 
affecting common memory, the power of attending is 
impaired, for, in order to attend, certain organs must 
be put into a certain state — that is, the senses and the 
brain must be influenced by the mind in a manner which 
the disease prevents. Mind acts not outwardly, nor 
associates past impressions with those present, except 
under this bodily preparation ; and when disease thus 
interferes, the thinking being is rendered incapable of 
perfect organic recollection, because the will brings not 
the organization into orderly association with surround- 
ing objects. This is just what happens whenever the 
brain is wearied or weakened. We feel not so much a 
pain as an impediment; in short, a kind of warning that 
we should not use the brain, because it is unfit for our 
purpose, and requires rest. To disregard this warning is 
to expose ourselves to the danger of so impairing the 
nervous system by voluntary abuse as to render it per- 
manently unfit for its intended purpose. The experi- 



342 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

merits of M. Flourens will, perhaps, illustrate this sub- 
ject. We will briefly instance one out of a multitude. 
This shrewd physiologist removed the entire brain of a 
chicken, which reduced the creature to a state somewhat 
similar to what pathologists recognize as catalepsy. It 
was plunged into a deep sleep, from which it could not be 
roused except by violent irritation. Of course it could 
not use those senses the central nerves of which had 
been destroyed by the cruel operation ; but it shook its 
head, ruffled its feathers, dressed them with its bill, and 
occasionally changed legs, as is common with birds. In 
fact, it still exercised will, as far as its nervous system 
remained capable of being impressed. It gradually lost 
the means of manifesting its instincts as the experi- 
menter proceeded, slice after slice, to remove its brain; 
but when all the brain was gone, something still re- 
mained capable of being roused when the body received 
a shock, which seems to prove that what perceives is 
not limited to the brain. 

The most perfect impediment to the use of the body, 
short of death, is that of apoplectic sleep ; but even in it 
we have reason to believe that the mind is often busy 
in dreaming. Some patients who appear perfectly apo- 
plectic have remembered their dreams ; and I have 
heard an individual, during a severe fit, continue to mut- 
ter earnestly about circumstances in which he had been 
previously interested, and of which, on recovery, he 
had no recollection. Of course, it can not be proved that 
the mind is active during what presents itself to our ob- 
servation as perfect unconsciousness, yet, when all con- 
nection with the external world seems suspended, as by 
pressure of the brain, it is sometimes possible, by shout- 
ing in the ear, to rouse the patient to give a distinct re- 
ply. In short, we possess proof that a perceiving power 
continues in possession of the body as long as its organs 
are in a state to put it in relation to things around it. 



SLEEP, DISEASE. DEATH.- — CONCLUSION. 343 

To the question, Why are we subject to uncon- 
sciousness ? we may therefore safely reply, that it is 
the merciful interposition of Omnipotence, for the 
protection of his intelligent creatures from the terrors 
of the transition from one state to another. Thus 
death, the penalty of guilt, is seen only by fear; and 
these are all destroyed by reliance on the faithfulness 
of our Creator. 

Apparent death is not always accompanied by a sus 
pension of consciousness, for in some cases the mental 
faculties have been engaged in an exalted manner, a sin- 
gular and well authenticated instance of which is related 
in the Psychological Magazine (vol. v. part 3). A 
young lady, after lying ill some time, to all appearance 
died. She was laid in her coffin, and the day of the 
funeral was fixed. When the lid of the coffin was about 
to be nailed down, a perspiration was observed on the 
body ; life soon after appeared ; at length she opened 
her eyes and uttered a most pitiable shriek. " She said 
it seemed to her, as if in a dream, that she was really 
dead ; yet she was perfectly conscious of all that hap- 
pened around her in this dreadful state. She distinctly 
heard her friends speaking, and lamenting her death, at 
the side of her coffin. She felt them pull on the dead- 
clothes, and lay her in it. This feeling produced a 
mental anxiety which was indescribable ; she tried to cry, 
but her soul was without power, and could not act on 
her body. She had the contradictory feeling as if she 
were in her body, and yet not in it, at one and the same 
time. It was equally impossible for her to stretch out 
her arm, or to open her eyes, or to cry, although she 
continually endeavored to do so. The internal anguish 
of her mind was, however, at its utmost height, when 
the funeral hymns began to be sung, and when the lid 
of the coffin was about to be nailed on. The thought 
that she was to be buried alive was the one that gave ac- 



344 SLEEP, DL<i:.^iF,, dkath. — CONCLUSION* 

tivity to her soul, and caused it to operate on her cur 
poreal frame." 

It has been asserted by several very honest, but, prob 
ably, incompetent persons, that they have experienced 
a consciousness of being out of the body. The cases of 
Cardan and Von Helmont have been already mention- 
ed ; but perhaps the clearest and most positive testimo- 
ny to the fact, is that given by Dr. Adam Clarke, the 
learned Wesleyan, who, when relating his recovery 
from drowning, stated to Dr. Lettsom, that during the 
period of his apparent unconsciousness, he felt a new 
kind of life. These are his words: — k 'All my views 
and ideas seemed instantly and entirely changed, and I 
had sensations of the most perfect felicity that it is pos- 
sible, independently of rapture, for the human mind to 
feel. I had no pain from the moment I was submerged ; 
a kind of green color became visible to me ; a multitude 
of objects were seen, not one of which, however, bore 
the least analogy to any thing I had ever beheld be- 
fore." When preaching in aid of the Humane Society, 
at the City-road Chapel, in London, he said, " I was 
submerged a sufficiently long time, according to my ap- 
prehensions, and the knowledge I now have of physiol- 
ogy, for me to have been so completely dead as never 
more to exist in this world, had it not been for that 
Providence which, as it were, once more breathed into 
me the breath of this life." Mr. Green, in his Diary, 
mentions a person who had been hung, and cut down on 
a reprieve, who, being asked what were his sensations, 
stated, that the preparations were dreadful beyond ex- 
pression, but that on being dropped he instantly found 
himself amid fields and rivers of blood, which gradually 
acquired a greenish tinge. Imagining that if he could 
reach a certain spot he should be easy, he seemed to 
himself to struggle forcibly to attain it, and then he felt 
no more. Here we find a green color again mentioned 



^[.Fi:i' ? DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 345 

as the last impression on the mind, which perhaps may 
be explained on the principle mentioned in the chapter 
on light. The first effect of strangulation is a retarda- 
tion of blood, which causes a red color to appear before 
the eye ; but green always succeeds to red, unless 
the eye be directed to some other color. It is interest- 
ing to observe how, in the midst of the most violent 
struggle to which a human being can be subjected, the 
soul dissociates itself from the past and the present, and 
interprets impression in keeping with its desire, which 
seems ever to be capable of conferring a new world of 
thought according to its kind. How important, then, 
that the soul should be familiar with good wishes ! 
These and similar cases prove at least that consciousness 
is modified by the state of the mind in relation to the 
body, and that mental enjoyment depends not altogether 
on mere sensation, but rather on the manner in which 
the attention is engaged with ideas. In order to bring 
together testimony to the same, effect from opposite 
quarters, a remarkable vision related by Plutarch may 
be referred to as an illustration of the notions entertained 
by the ancient Greeks concerning a future state. The 
substance of Plutarch's story is this : — Thespesios, of 
Soli, fell violently on his neck, and was supposed to be 
dead. Three days after, however, when about to be 
interred, he recovered. From this time a wonderful 
change was manifest in his conduct; for he had been 
licentious and prodigal, but ever after was devout, noble, 
and conscientious. On his friends inquiring the cause 
of this strange conversion, he stated that during his ap- 
parent death his rational soul had experienced marvelous 
vicissitudes ; his whole being seemed, at first, on a sud- 
den, to breathe and to look about it on every side, as if 
the soul had been all eye, while at the same time he 
felt as if gliding gently along, borne upon a stream of 
light. Then he seemed to meet a spiritual person of 



346 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH.-— CONCLUSION. 

unutterable loveliness, who conducted him to various 
parts of the unseen world, and explained to him the 
mysteries of divine government, and showed him the 
manner in which wickedness meets its reward. This 
vision exerted all the influence of truth upon hjs mind, 
and entirely altered his character and conduct. 

We often witness an ecstatic state of mind favored by 
the condition of the brain. When a peculiar fervor 
takes the place of orderly activity, and a person's manner 
is suddenly altered from his natural habit to the assump- 
tion of a style of speaking and acting out of keeping with 
his intelligence and vocation, it will generally be found 
that some disease of the brain is going on. A man pre- 
disposed to insanity is in great danger of losing self-con- 
trol by allowing his mind to be ardently, or rather inor- 
dinately, engaged on any subject; but, of course, in pro- 
portion to his estimate of the importance of the subject 
will be its influence on his heart, and therefore it hap- 
pens that some sort of religious impression is so fre- 
quently mixed up with the reveries of madness. We 
find that certain diseased states of the brain prevent the 
mind from acting outwardly without inconvenience, pain, 
or impediment, and therefore individuals in such states 
have an air of mystery and abstraction about them which 
indicates the necessity of their being carefully treated, 
lest their minds become fixed in a morbid bias. The 
state of the brain, however, does not determine the or- 
der or class of thoughts which may arise during the 
morbid condition of mind. The habitual character of 
our sentiments may be modified by the disease, but 
they are never completely changed except through the 
influence of other minds upon our own. Thus the man 
who has never entertained religious feeling during 
health, will not exhibit any truly pious affection when 
suffering from disease of the brain, whatever be the part 
of it affected ; but he whose familiar thoughts have been 



SLEEI% DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 347 

devotional, and whose social habits have been really 
Christian, will retain his character in the midst of mad- 
ness and battle with his impulses as temptations of the 
evil one, and perceive in all his visions something rela- 
ting to the experience of his inner life. But, of course, 
the excess of bodily disease may so disorder his associ- 
ations as to leave him to the influence of mere instincts; 
and the best of men, being exposed to disease of the 
brain, can not be preserved from the causes of a total in- 
sanity but by the direct exercise of divine interposition. 
A case occurs to my remembrance which may serve as 
a warning to those who prefer religious ecstasy to the 
quiet activity of a soul duly engaged in social duties. A 
Jady who had long exhibited an extraordinary beauty of 
character w T as by association drawn into the vortex of 
questionable theology, and instead of rejoicing in her 
habits and opportunities of usefulness, allowed her mind 
to revel in abstractions. In this state, her enthusiastic 
friends were quite overcome with amazement aud de- 
light : her thoughts were so elevated, her language so 
sublime, her appearance so heavenly. Her habit of life 
was completely altered, but still not really improved ; 
she was more retiring, more absent, more strange, and 
even in person more beautiful; in short, her countenance 
was radiant with pure and unspeakable joy, such as the 
blessed Virgin's might have been when she pondered on 
the angel's greeting, and pressed her holy child with 
calm and mysterious rapture to her bosom. But it did 
not last long on earth : her brain was diseased, and she 
died suddenly while at prayer. 

In proportion as any mind obtains intelligence, it dis- 
covers that moral beings are governed on moral princi- 
ples, and must therefore suffer from perversion of will. 
Confusion as well as wonder is the offspring of igno- 
rance, and sin is willfulness opposed to law. It scarcely 
becomes us to say to the Almighty — Why hast Thou 



1$ LH SLl'.r.P, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCU^IOV. 

permitted this opposition ? We contemplate the influ- 
ences operating on human thought and action under too 
limited a knowledge to be able to apprehend how there 
can be a regulating power where there appears to be 
so much disorder; yet perturbation, not less than its 
correction, is the result of law. Though evil is the op- 
posite of good, and therefore the antagonist of God, yet 
omnipotence is revealed in its permission, because it is 
restrained to the furtherance of benevolent purposes by 
calling forth the virtue of loving spirits, and by demand- 
ing the highest exercise of their faith. To believe in 
Him who is the reconciler of all things to Himself is to 
believe in the ultimate vindication of all His attributes, 
and to feel that the stability of His throne is as sure as 
eternity. The love that originated all creatures has 
never allowed His own nature to be involved in the con- 
tradiction of their necessarily narrowed understandings, 
and when their round of error is completed according 
to their little wills, it shall still be found that His will 
triumphs, and the boundless universe must everlastingly 
declare in every color of the threefold light, and in the 
lines of darkness that divide its rays, in spite of sin, in 
spite of suffering, in spite of death, that God is love, the 
Source of endless life. These thoughts naturally spring 
up in the heart of a Christian when he reviews the 
moral history of this world; for he sees that, whether 
he regard it in individuals or in communities, the failure 
of man is all along conspicuous, while the finger of the 
Almighty is equally evident. Probably in no respect is 
the truth of this observation more manifest than in the 
contemplation of the numerous epidemic diseases which 
have in most mysterious succession afflicted the nations. 
These have been so visibly the result of direct interfer- 
ence with the common course of things as to leave us 
no means of accounting for them but by reference to 
immediate divine appointment; and this we do the 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 349 

more readily, because the moral and physical habits of 
mankind, at the time of their occurrence, have not only 
appeared to require the introduction of some evil which 
should shake society to its foundations, but also because 
we find the morals, manners, and customs of nations 
wonderfully modified by such incursions. Society takes 
a higher standing after being decimated by pestilence : 
mind is quickened, the battle between good and evil is 
more fiercely determinate, and, as in the contest good 
must always triumph, so, the stronger and more general 
the struggle, the more blessed the advantage. This re- 
mark holds true, perhaps, only where the human heart 
and intellect, understanding and will, are, in some meas- 
ure, enlightened and rectified by revealed knowledge : 
where the darkness is entire, epidemic disease generally 
continues until the inhabitants are swept away to make 
room for higher orders of people, or until new light 
arises upon them. Those who wish to obtain demon- 
stration that the extensive prevalence of fatal disease is 
a means in the hand of Providence for the mental de- 
velopment of the human race, would do well to study 
the beautiful treatises of Hecker on the epidemics of the 
middle ages. We might advantageously refer to the 
moral effects of the w Black-Death," and other fearful 
pestilences, in proof that they were such as might have 
been expected among a people so grossly ignorant, and 
to show that there can be no security for the improve- 
ment of our moral nature without true religion, that is, 
without an intimate acquaintance with the laws of God, 
Doth in regard to the body and the mind. 

But it will be far more pleasing to contemplate the 
moral effects of disease, in individual cases, of which we 
have a number almost always before us. The sum of 
all our experience on the subject, however, is to con- 
vince us that the mental energies of man are roused by 
suffering and disappointment to greater development, 



350 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

to a fuller realization of his connection with a future 
life, and that the direction of the affections will depend 
on the previous training of the soul, and the state of 
the will induced by religious belief. In short, a man's 
faith is at all times his life, and according to his princi- 
ples will be his behavior. The tone of his thought 
will accord with his affections, and the union of the cor- 
poreal with the spiritual, while enforcing a peculiarity 
of manifestation, proves, at the same time, the existence 
of an innate vital personality which death can not touch. 
To study feebleness is to study power, for there is a 
might that lives in weakness, of which those who are 
struggling to predominate know nothing. 

Though our moral nature possesses no restorative 
principle in itself, yet the delicate susceptibilities which 
distinguished the earlier periods of our experience plain- 
ly indicate our original fitness for higher ends than the 
scenes of this world afford us. The better feelings of 
childhood and youth lose their bloom and loveliness by 
the necessary associations of maturer years. Earth is 
not a fit place to train us in perfect keeping with our 
capability of enjoyment. The functional and criminal 
are too nearly connected, in consequence of hereditary 
corruption. We feel, as we advance in life, that neither 
our positions nor our pursuits are quite compatible with 
freedom of spirit, since we are obliged to calculate on 
consequences, instead of obeying impulses, simply be- 
cause we are not pure. Who desires not to regain the 
acute and delightful sensibilities of opening existence, 
when the passions, harmonizing together, awoke respon- 
sively to every touch of tenderness and love ? The past, 
however, returns not with a wish, but yet all that was 
good in it shall return, to be lost no more. The finer 
spirits (to use a figure) have indeed evaporated in the 
more heated atmosphere of manhood ; nevertheless, 
there is probably in the heart of every human being a 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 351 

portion of created excellence, which can never wholly 
waste away ; there is always some germinal atom, some 
pure element, some light within us, some drop of holy 
life imparted by the touch of Jehovah, which has a nat- 
ural affinity for all that is lovely and truthful, both as 
regards affection and intellect, which in a proper atmo- 
sphere, would expand into glory, by commerce with the 
skies. But the selfishness which, like a petrifaction, or 
rather iciness, hardens about our hearts while engaged 
in worldly pursuits, can not be broken or melted off but 
by some violence to our habits. It is necessary for us 
to be brought into the helplessness of childhood, to feel 
again a child-like spirit. The spring of health which, 
bounding from our eager bosoms, sustained our more 
selfish passions in their vigor, must be diminished in its 
gushings ; disease must reduce us to extremity of weak- 
ness ere the acquired willfulness of our wayward souls 
quite yields attention to the still small voice that whis- 
pers the remembrance of a mother's loving care, or a 
father's earnest prayers, and thus brings back upon our 
memories the thousand lovely visions that haunted the 
heart of our childhood. It is in this way, if ever we 
get a retrospective glance at the love of Him that origi- 
nated our being, and again invites us to his bosom, say- 
ing, Suffer little children to come unto me. The vivid 
impressions of early fancy, so near akin to piety, thus 
mingle at last with the stern knowledge which schooled 
our tardy reason, and under the guidance of that spirit 
which points the way of life in truth and charity, we 
are conducted to the blessedness of an eternal home, 
and a kindred that neither weep nor die. Happy he 
who learns, from his own history, how frail he is ; and, 
being persuaded by the vanity of his past desires, re- 
signs his will and his understanding to the gentle teach- 
ing of Omnipotence, still ready to support and to comfort 
him with more than the tenderness with which an 



352 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

affectionate mother aids and soothes her own weak child. 
Death-beds afford many most beautiful lessons, which 
the wisest among us would do well to learn by heart. 

Although it is a fact that the extreme debility prece- 
ding death generally brings with it a meek quiescence 
of the will, because nervous irritability is then exhausted, 
the mind, nevertheless, in most cases, continues per- 
fectly active and collected, within a very brief period 
before departure. A marvelous serenity and clearness 
of perception are not unfrequently evinced. The soul 
seems to estimate truths at their proper value, by be- 
holding them in a light that takes no color from earth ; 
for when a man is conscious that the hand which 
brought him into this life, naked and helpless, has pos- 
session of his spirit to convey it, unclothed, into another 
mansion, the desires appropriate to this lower world are 
dismissed in the urgency of the grand occasion, and he 
longs only to resign himself with becoming composure 
to the will, and the might, and the tenderness of Him 
who can not forsake his creatures. It is then that God 
appears worthy to be trusted, for then all other being 
fails; but the unsearchable wisdom of His providence is 
only the better manifested to man by man's thus stand- 
ing alone With his Maker. We then feel that, as none 
but the Greatest, the Supreme, could have called us 
into existence, none but He could so perfectly prepare 
for our exigencies, and meet our wants; so none but He 
can confer the hope, and provide the means, of eternal 
life. Such assurances, however, spring not up of their 
own accord, in the darkness of the uninstructed mind. 
The confidence of the departing spirit is but the matu- 
rity of the faith, whatever it may have been, which 
governed conduct during the activities of a man's inter- 
course with his fellows. Yet we must not overlook the 
vastly interesting fact, that in all the numerous tribes of 
mankind, however ignorant, however degraded, there is 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 353 

scarcely a human being to be found who does not in- 
herit the belief, that to die is only to change one abode 
or one mode of existence for another. There is a reli- 
ance on the Creator in this faith. Thus the Author of 
life has everywhere softened the bitterness of death, 
by committing to every rational soul a claim upon Him- 
self for accommodation and enjoyment according to the 
condition of its desire and of its knowledge forever. 

Schiller, when dying, was asked how he felt. " Calm- 
er and calmer," he replied. Perhaps this serenity was 
mainly due to the state of his body ; for that degree of 
physical weakness which no longer suffers the will to 
employ the muscles, but yet arrests not the internal 
action of the brain, is usually attended by an indescri- 
bable calm of mind. If, indeed, the conscience be rec- 
onciled to God, it is complete ; for then the torment of 
conflicting affections is over, and the soul sees only that 
it is heir to a rich and eternal inheritance. Thus a tran- 
quil ecstasy is often witnessed at the death-bed of the 
Christian. 

Is that a death-bed where the Christian lies ? 
Yes, but not his ; 'tis Death itself there dies. 

Coleridge. 

Of course the subjects which the Christian's mind has 
been accustomed to contemplate will recur during the 
quietism of exhaustion, when the soul almost forsakes 
the senses, and then the dying man may mutter the 
unconnected sentences of a happy delirium ; but yet we 
dare not say that all his raptures are merely delirious. 
When the vital flame flickered, almost extinguished, the 
heart faltering with every pulse, and every breath a 
convulsion, I have said to a dying believer, who had not 
long before been talking in broken words of undying 
love, " Are you in pain ?" and the reply, with appa- 
rently the last breath was, "It is delightful!" In an- 
other person, in whom a gradual disease had so nearly 
23 



354 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

exhausted the physical powers that the darkness of death 
had already produced blindness, the sense of God's love 
was so overpowering, that every expression for many 
hours referred to it in rapturous words, such as, " This 
is life — this is heaven — God is love — I need not faith — 
I have the promise !" It is easy to attribute such ex 
pressions to delirium; but that does not alter their char- 
acter, nor the reality of the state of soul which produces 
them. Whether a dying man can maintain any con- 
tinued attention to things through his senses, we need 
not inquire. It is enough for him if, in the spirit, he 
possess the peace and joy of believing. Testimony to 
this degree of triumph may be found wherever the doc- 
trines of the Savior have been received and practiced. 
The instance of Sir James Mackintosh is, perhaps, worthy 
of especial notice — because he lived like a philosopher, 
but died like a Christian. Not long before he ceased to 
speak, his daughter said to him, " Jesus loves you." He 
answered slowly, pausing between each word, " Jesus 
Christ — love — the same thing!" after a long silence, he 
said, "I believe !" She asked, " In God ?" he answer- 
ed, " In Jesus." On her inquiring how he felt, his last 
word was, " Happy !" 

" And is this death ? — Dread thing ! — 
If sach thy visiting, 

How beautiful thou art !" 

The philosophy which fails to find her desired substi- 
tute for religion, also fails to prove that there is any 
absurdity in believing in those ministrations of angels 
which Christianity intimates, and which are most likely 
to be experienced by the spirit of man when on the con- 
fines of eternity. In the pause of unutterable desire, 
the soul forgets the body ; and it is then that spirits 
some slight remove above us perceive our need, and by 
divine appointment confer on us the comfort of their 
light by impressing on us a deeper knowledge of the 



SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 355 

intentions of Deity, and a brighter insight of his love to 
ourselves and to all men. Thus worlds above worlds of 
varied intelligence are bound together in the commu- 
nion of necessity and assistance. 

There is no degradation in our physical existence 
unless from depravity of the will ; but the proof of our 
natural disgrace is death, since it demonstrates the for- 
feiture of our qualifications to act as Heaven's vicegerents 
over the lower creation. A full restitution of our rights 
is the end and object of the Christian religion ; for He 
who came to vindicate the Eternal Father brought with 
Him a regenerating faculty for all who desire to receive 
it. When, therefore, He says, " Thy sins are forgiven," 
He also says, " Be thou healed ;" for perfect health is 
complete salvation; but He adds, " Go in peace; thy 
faith hath saved thee." Now, what is faith — true 
faith? It is to feel that He who introduced us to 
earthly life guides us to the heavenly, and is nearer to 
us than our own flesh, since he gives us a consciousness 
of a higher world and a happy eternity, to the fullness 
of which we cheerfully pass on. It is the belief of the 
soul that God acts with it, because will is power, and 
because He has imparted to faith an authority to con- 
vert a sinful creature into a son of God. But there is a 
faith that works not by love. That, too, though but as 
a minute seed, can remove mountains, yet it can do no 
good : its operation in any heart creates a hell. Both 
kinds of faith have one parent — knowledge ; but yet both 
faith and knowledge may be purely scientific, or truly 
Satanic. The scientific, truly so called, trusts God — the 
Satanic trusts nothing. The former belongs to religion, 
being set upon attaining a coincidence with the divine 
mind ; the latter seeks no end but the gratification of a 
self-hood that wills not to be reckoned as an integral 
part of an infinite whole. This separate self enjoys not 
any thing, merely because it can not possess all : and it 



356 SLEEP, DISEASE, DEATH. CONCLUSION. 

trembles to the core from a consciousness of being filled 
with desires altogether opposed to the plan of Heaven, 
which is, that happiness shall only be imparted through 
obedience to that love which unites in one harmony all 
the elements and all the intelligences of every holy 
world, m Turpis universo non congruens" wisely says 
the stroog-hearted Augustin, since every soul that is 
out of keeping with divine order must remain, in the 
license of a perverse will, forever vile, until restored to 
the dominion of truth by the attractiveness of light and 
the miseries of darkness. Beauty and happiness — in 
one word, holiness — are essential to the wisdom and 
power of Perfect Intelligence ; and those who trust in 
His ready hand and manifest goodness, shall feel His 
might within them effectuating their full deliverance 
from all infirmity both of flesh and of spirit ; so that 
they shall rejoice unspeakably in the brightness of His 
glory, and feel themselves to be hallowed, and lovely, 
and blessed in Him, and with Him, forever. 



THE END 






LIBRARY OF 



CONGRESS 




005 524112 



# 



